Schooling ground to a halt at Lethakuthula Primary outside Mbombela, Mpumalanga after six classes were gutted by fire on Tuesday and pupils were sent home.
It’s the third school to be torched in the last few days.
Nearby residents say they were woken up by the crackling flames and smoke and they failed to contain the blaze.
“We are sad about the situation and we don’t know what’s happening here. This is disturbing our children. We are asking for help to rebuild,” says a parent, January Silinda.
The school governing body (SGB) is appealing to the public for assistance to rebuild the school.
“This is setting us back, our children are not safe. We need help to reconstruct the classrooms that were burnt down,” says SGB Deputy Chairperson, Richard Mamba.
This past weekend, two schools were torched in Siyabuswa. Over 700 pupils missed exams on Tuesday.
“We are concerned about this. This is crime and it is putting the lives of our learners in danger as others are really young to be on their own. We are working with police to curb the criminality in this. This is the sixth school to be burnt this year,” says Mpumalanga Department of Education’s Jasper Zwane.
No one has claimed responsibility of the fire. Investigations on the cause of the fire are underway.
WATCH BELOW:
