News / Regional
Pupils cheat death as winds blow off classroom roof
01 Dec 2014 at 07:14hrs | Views
SCORES of pupils learning at Gwambe Secondary School in Bulilima District cheated death when strong winds blew the roof off a classroom block, a day after the school was officially opened.
The roofing on one of two classroom blocks was blown off on Wednesday afternoon at the school which was officially opened on Tuesday last week.
The headmaster of the school, Sudden Paganga, confirmed that one of the classroom blocks had been damaged.
He appealed for donations to repair the damage.
An official at the school told Chronicle the roof was blown off the classroom block at about 2PM while pupils were in the middle of a lesson.
He said pupils were lucky to escape unharmed but the experience left them traumatised.
The official said the pupils were calmed down by teachers, who were also badly shaken.
He said the incident was a huge setback as the community members and the school had struggled to raise money to construct the blocks.
The damage has been attributed to a poor workmanship by the builders.
The classroom block was built by community members.
Another school official said the winds damaged a classroom block being used by Form 2 pupils on Wednesday afternoon.
He said it would cost the school about $1,000 to repair the damage.
Situated about 30 kilometres from Plumtree town, the school, which has an enrolment of 187 pupils, has only two classroom blocks.
Officials said it would be difficult for children to attend lessons in a roofless building as the rainy season had started.
"We just completed our second classroom block recently and we had resolved to move the Forms 3 and 4 classes to the new block while the Forms 1 and 2s occupy the old classroom block which was built last year.
"Now the old classroom block has been damaged which means that we have moved back to the time when we had one classroom block," said the official.
He said the pupils would continue learning from the damaged classrooms with the hope that there would be no heavy rains before schools close on Thursday.
Added the official: "Form 1 pupils were learning from a neighbouring primary school because of a shortage of learning space."
Speaking during the official opening of the school, Paganga said pupils pay fees with building material as a strategy of speeding up the construction process.
The school, which has one Form 1, 3 and 4 classes and two Form 2 classes, was established in 2011 as an annexure of Sikhathini Secondary.
Establishment of the school came as a huge relief as children from the area were walking about 15 kilometres to get to the nearest school while others were not attending school at all upon completing their primary education because of the long distances.
The roofing on one of two classroom blocks was blown off on Wednesday afternoon at the school which was officially opened on Tuesday last week.
The headmaster of the school, Sudden Paganga, confirmed that one of the classroom blocks had been damaged.
He appealed for donations to repair the damage.
An official at the school told Chronicle the roof was blown off the classroom block at about 2PM while pupils were in the middle of a lesson.
He said pupils were lucky to escape unharmed but the experience left them traumatised.
The official said the pupils were calmed down by teachers, who were also badly shaken.
He said the incident was a huge setback as the community members and the school had struggled to raise money to construct the blocks.
The damage has been attributed to a poor workmanship by the builders.
The classroom block was built by community members.
He said it would cost the school about $1,000 to repair the damage.
Situated about 30 kilometres from Plumtree town, the school, which has an enrolment of 187 pupils, has only two classroom blocks.
Officials said it would be difficult for children to attend lessons in a roofless building as the rainy season had started.
"We just completed our second classroom block recently and we had resolved to move the Forms 3 and 4 classes to the new block while the Forms 1 and 2s occupy the old classroom block which was built last year.
"Now the old classroom block has been damaged which means that we have moved back to the time when we had one classroom block," said the official.
He said the pupils would continue learning from the damaged classrooms with the hope that there would be no heavy rains before schools close on Thursday.
Added the official: "Form 1 pupils were learning from a neighbouring primary school because of a shortage of learning space."
Speaking during the official opening of the school, Paganga said pupils pay fees with building material as a strategy of speeding up the construction process.
The school, which has one Form 1, 3 and 4 classes and two Form 2 classes, was established in 2011 as an annexure of Sikhathini Secondary.
Establishment of the school came as a huge relief as children from the area were walking about 15 kilometres to get to the nearest school while others were not attending school at all upon completing their primary education because of the long distances.
Source - chronicle
