The school governing body (SGB) at Glenvista High School, south of Johannesburg, has started with disciplinary hearings against six pupils who are believed to have started a fire in the school hall.
The hall was set alight on Monday, allegedly by pupils who did not want to write an assessment. A projector screen, curtains and electrical wiring were damaged.
This led to grade 12 pupils writing their assessment out in the open on Wednesday.
Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said the department would not pay for the refurbishment of the hall.
“There are six pupils who had been identified and linked to the torching of the hall. Drastic steps will be taken against the guilty ones. However, the department cannot say much at the moment as the SGB is still busy investigating the matter,” Lesufi said.
He said they were devastated to discover that pupils could go as far as committing an act of arson and destroying school infrastructure to escape an important assessment.
On Monday, school principal Thobile Morgan said she was notified by a teacher that the hall was on fire and she called fire fighters and the police.
Morgan said the arsonists had sneaked out of their classes and headed to the hall to torch it.
She estimated that damage caused could cost about R400,000 to fix.
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