“Dealing with little ones requires extra care”

The Department of Education in Limpopo said the incident where a five-year-old Grade R pupil, Surprise Mulwanndwa Mutenda, sustained serious burns during school hours is a concern for the department.

Departmental spokesperson Mr Paena Galane said dealing with young pupils required that those looking after them always keep a watchful eye on them. “The incident in question is unfortunate and a concern for all of us,” Galane said. “Dealing with pupils, especially little ones, requires extra care, as unexplainable things happen within the blink of an eye.”

He stated that the pupils in Surprise's class were under the supervision of the principal, Ms Grace Makakavhule, at Makwatambani Primary School at Maelula village. He couldn't explain if the teacher for that class was off-duty or away on that day.

He explained that the two pupils, Surprise and a classmate, left the classroom to play outside in the five minutes that the principal had left the classroom for the administration block. Once outside the classroom, another pupil allegedly pushed Surprise into the fire where the school was burning some refuse. He sustained severe burns on both hands, his chin, the lower part of his stomach, and his left foot.

“When the principal came back, the children were missing and they searched for them, until a Grade 4 pupil brought them back to the class,” Galane said. “The school has tried to assist the family, but they have requested to attend to the matter on their own, without the help of the school.”

Surprise's father, Mr Edward Mutenda, denied the Department of Education's claim that the family had declined any help from the department. “I don't think we would have approached the newspapers to publicise our case if we had refused to accept assistance from the school,” Mutenda said.

“If the provincial education office has decided to side with the school and the principal, who failed to maintain security and safety at the school, then they can do so. There is nothing that we can do to force them to treat this case in the light of truth and honesty.”

Mutenda said he still failed to understand the reason why the fire was made during school hours and no one supervised it in the first place. However, when Limpopo Mirrorasked Galane (this Monday) if it was permissible or lawful for the school to make a fire in the school yard and not supervise it, he still maintained that “everything happened within the blink of an eye.”

Meanwhile, Surprise has expressed fear of ever going back to school. Yet Galane said there was no professional counselling which would be offered to young Surprise, so that he would be able to return to school. “We respect the family's decision to attend the matter on their own without any help from the school,” he said.

Surprise was nursing his wounds at his home, at Maelula village, while other pupils were busy writing end-of-year exams.

Date:28 November 2014

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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