'Goblins' terrorise pupils

Rengwe Secondary School in Hurungwe suspended lessons for two days last week after pupils were allegedly attacked by suspected goblins believed to have been unleashed by a parent protesting that his child had been left out of the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) selection.

Eleven pupils battled the attacks on Wednesday and Thursday last week, forcing authorities to close the school for two days.

A parent who chose to remain anonymous said the utterances made by the pupils during the attacks showed that the magic spell was cast by a disgruntled parent who wanted their child to benefit from the BEAM programme.

"These spirits warned to continue with the attack as long as their master's children were left out of the Beam programme.

"The affected children were talking of being left out of Beam.

"They were just running aimlessly, falling, kicking into the air as if they were fighting someone attacking them," said the parent.

Hurungwe District Education Officer Mr Jason Dzveta confirmed the disturbances at the school, adding that everything was now back to normal.

"I visited the school on Friday and everything was back to normal with lessons being conducted as usual.

"I also had a very fruitful meeting with nine village heads from the surrounding community. They condemned the disturbance in the strongest terms and guaranteed to warn their people against such retrogressive practices.

"In fact, such practices can scare away donors," he said.