St James fails pupil

A BULAWAYO woman is up in arms with authorities at St James High School who reportedly failed to take her grand-daughter to hospital after she was burnt while serving tea.

The school reportedly swept the matter under the rug, only taking the pupil to the school's clinic.

When the Form Two pupil realised that her burns were getting worse and the treatment she was getting was of no help, she alerted her grandmother Susan Moyo.

Moyo told this publication that she was shocked when she got to the school to find her granddaughter in pain.

To make matters worse, school authorities refused to release the pupil to the granny so that she takes her to hospital for better treatment.

"My granddaughter phoned me after a week saying she was in pain. I rushed to the school and discovered she had scalds.

"She told me that she got scalded by water when they were serving some teachers tea," said Moyo.

She revealed after the incident, they only communicated with the girl's father Steven Chakanyuka who is a driver at the school.

"It seems they agreed not to take the girl to hospital as they were going to get in trouble and therefore resorted to the school's clinic.

"After getting the news, I rushed to the school and the scald wounds on her leg were serious. When I asked school authorities to take her to the hospital, they refused and I was not pleased at all.

"The child was not even supposed to be serving them tea and they are taking this issue lightly while she is in pain," said Moyo.

When Chakanyuka was contacted for comment, he said the reporter must phone him after a few minutes and thereafter his phone was not reachable.

Efforts to get a comment from Matabeleland North Education Director Jabulani Mpofu were fruitless as he was said to be in meetings throughout the week.