Parents protest K180, 000 rehabilitation cost for Nkhata Bay Sec. School

Guardians and parents whose wards and children are learning at Nkhata Bay Secondary School (NKHABOSS) have protested the K180, 000 fine the school management has imposed on every student for the damage some naughty learners did to the institution.

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On the evening of February 16, 2023, certain Form Four students torched the school’s administration block, which houses the offices of the head teacher, bursar and the stores clerk in protest against a decision by the management to punish a learner who had gone out of bounds.

Valuable items such as unclaimed certificates and chemicals for the science laboratory got damaged in the process.

This prompted the school management to suspend learning for two weeks as the police monitored the situation. After investigations, the culprits were expelled from the school.

However, the NKHABOSS management has imposed a K180, 000 fine on every students in what they have termed as a ‘rehabilitation cost’.

The school’s head teacher, Vitumbiko Banda, has since written parents and guardians, informing them about the decision.

In his letter, Banda demands that every student must provide proof of payment of this money before being allowed into school today, April 17, 2023.

The head teacher is also demanding that Form 1 and 3 students should pay part of K220, 000 school fees while those in Forms 2 and 4 have to pay the same amount in full upon arrival.

This has not gone down well with parents and guardians of the children who did not participate in the burning of the office block.

The parents were surprised that ‘nothing more was said by the school until on the last day of term boys were sent home with a letter demanding that every boy pay 180,000 for renovations, on top of their fees 220,000, by the first day of term, or they will be sent straight back home’.

They have since hired Christon Ghambi to challenge the decision at the court.