O-Level exam candidate sues school

AN Ordinary-Level pupil sitting for public examinations has taken Primary and Secondary Education Minister Lazarus Dokora and the Roman Catholic-run Embakwe High School authorities to court following his expulsion from the school for praying in an "unacceptable" Pentecostal way.

Promise Mpala (17) was expelled from the Plumtree school by the headmaster, Mr Martin Ndlovu, after he was found praying with 17 other pupils on the school grounds in a manner deemed unacceptable and contrary to the Catholic way of worship.

Promise's mother, Mrs Nqobile Mpala, has through her lawyer Mr Bruce Masamvu of Dube-Tachiona and Tsvangirai Legal Practitioners filed an urgent chamber application at the Bulawayo High Court citing Dr Dokora, Mr Ndlovu and Embakwe High School as the respondents.

Mrs Mpala is seeking an order directing the respondents to immediately re-admit her son into the school with full benefits of boarding and library facilities.

She also wants the court to bar the respondents from interfering with Promise's school and examination attendance.

Mrs Mpala is accusing the school authorities of physically and psychologically victimising her son and interfering with his right to education for no justifiable reason.

Promise and his friends were summoned to Mr Ndlovu's office on Sunday last week after they were found praying to pass exams  in a Pentecostal manner instead of the Roman Catholic away. Promise, who the school authorities say had a previous warning, was then expelled while his friends were warned.