16 boys expelled from Cyrene for roasting school pigs

16 boys expelled from Cyrene for roasting school pigs

• Mugabe fails to pay promised salaries to teachers

• Teachers call of strike after massive wage hike

• Mugabe says 'good salaries' approved for civil servants

• Mugabe promises to address striking teachers' plight

• Civil servants' strike looms as teachers get windfall

• Teachers' union leaders held, torture claims

• Zimbabwe teachers in fresh strike over pay

• Teachers awarded 1000 percent pay hike

• ZIMSEC fails to meet marking deadline for A and O Level exams

• Teachers call off strike after pay deal

• Zimbabwe teachers strike over pay

• Mzingwane High School shut down after riots

• Teachers arrested in school sex abuse scandal

• Mugabe hails corporal punishment

• Teachers call off strike

• Striking teachers fed chalk by police - union

• Majongwe arrested over teachers' strike

• Mugabe faces new wave of strikes

• Zimbabwe's university fees up 2000%

• Schools to teach Ndebele, English and Shona

• Education ministry blows budget in 6 months

• Mugabe refuses to pay son's fees

• 118 Zimbabwe teachers die of Aids

• 100 women seized in Zimbabwe fees protest

• Headmasters face jail as Education Bill sails through

By Lindie Whiz

SIXTEEN boys have been expelled from Cyrene Mission near Bulawayo for skinning and eating two pigs belonging to the school, a local newspaper reported.

All the expelled students were in Form 4, Umthunywa reported.

The expulsion of the students amplifies problems faced by Zimbabwean schools which have not been spared by the country’s economic meltdown.

Many students at boarding schools are now asked to bring their own food with schools struggling to match up their budgets with runaway inflation which is officially 2 million percent.

Umthunywa said the boys drove the pigs to a secluded place at the school farm, killed them, roasted all the meat and ate it.

"A count revealed that two pigs were missing, and a manhunt was ordered,” the paper said. “It was discovered that the pigs were killed. Information leaked to the authorities that the boys had killed them. They were identified and asked to go home and bring their parents. They were then expelled.”

Stock theft carries a sentence of 27 years in jail without the option of a fine, and the boys should count themselves lucky that school authorities did not hand them over to the police, Umthunywa added.

In interviews with students at the school, the paper said the boys stole the animals due to hunger, which is affecting virtually all boarding schools due to nationwide food shortages.

"We survive on boiled beans and vegetables," one student said.

The pupils said they went to class in the morning on empty stomachs because there was no sugar and maize meal for porridge.

"We have nothing during tea time. We only eat during lunch. It is unbearable. We are like prisoners at Khami Maximum," another student is quoted as saying.

Form Ones and Form Twos who could not cope with the situation due to their age, spent the day sleeping at their dormitories instead of going to class.

The Zimbabwe government, battling to contain the economic meltdown, has ordered price controls in various sectors. Schools are made to charge ridiculously low fees, without supporting subsidies for their access to services.

One of the country's best schools, Mzingwane High in Matabeleland South, failed to re-open on time after the June 27 presidential election run-off as authorities failed to secure food for pupils. The school opened a week later.

Parents are forced drive to schools every weekend to provide supplementary food to their children, which is costly.

JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com