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Sister Ludo Ncube

Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
A NUN at Roman Catholic-run Sacred Heart Secondary School in Esigodini has sparked an outcry from parents for reportedly meting out corporal punishment on teachers and pupils.

Sister Ludo Ncube, the head of the girls’ only school is reportedly running the institution like a military establishment, allegedly ordering teachers who “break school rules” to pick up and pile bricks for hours at a time.

“Sometimes our children miss lessons picking the same bricks over trivial issues like talking in the dormitories, minutes after lights out,” said a disgruntled parent.

Sister Ncube, who dismissed the claims, was reportedly transferred from Embakwe High School in Plumtree after pupils ganged up and threatened to attack her, accusing her of being heavy-handed.

In January this year, the High Court declared corporal punishment or caning of children or juvenile offenders unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court, however, provisionally set aside the inferior court’s ruling in June.

Parents told The Chronicle that while they accepted that their children must be disciplined when they do wrong, they were not pleased with the severity of the punishments.

“My daughter was caught talking in the dormitory and she received punishment that made her regret setting foot at the school,” said a parent, who declined to be named.

“Sister Ncube forced her to collect bricks and move them from one end of the school one at a time, for a week. She would do this for four hours every day. She was not allowed to use a wheelbarrow.”

The parent said she was considering transferring her daughter to another school because Sister Ncube was treating the pupils like army recruits.

A teacher, one of the pupils said, transferred after she was severely punished by the nun in front of the pupils.

“The teacher was punished for not monitoring the pupils. She was also forced to collect bricks with some pupils who had offended Sister Ncube while the others watched.

“The teacher could not handle the humiliation and left the school,” added the pupil.

Saturday was a visiting day at the school and parents driving their own cars were ordered to pay $2 at the gate as “punishment” for not using the school bus.

“We were made to pay money at the gate for not using the bus. We argued that we couldn’t leave our cars and use the bus but Sister Ncube insisted that we should support the school by paying $3 to use the school bus.

“I understand that the school is new and still under construction but I don’t understand why parents should be punished for using their cars instead of the school bus,” complained another parent.

Sister Ncube rubbished the allegations.

“It’s not true. I know the children you’re talking about but parents have no right to report to the media if they’ve any grievances. They should go to the district education officer if they want the mistakes to be corrected,” she said before referring questions to the education authorities.

Matabeleland South provincial education director, Tumisang Thabela said she had not received a report from parents or the district office, but said that officials would investigate the matter.