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When teachers are with pupils, be it at a day or boarding school, they are in loco parentis. What this means is that they assume the responsibilities of their pupils’ parents.

When parents surrender their children to school authorities, they have no reason to worry about their safety, conduct or their class attendance because that is the responsibility of teachers and their supporting staff.

At boarding schools it is teachers and supporting staff that take care of where and when the pupils sleep, what they eat and in the event of a pupil falling sick, it is the school authorities who see to it that the pupil has been taken to clinic or hospital and parents are usually informed when action has already been taken.

Parents are therefore very disturbed when a mishap happens to a pupil or pupils and the incident smacks of negligence. Parents of Cyrene High school, on the outskirts of Bulawayo, were on Tuesday shocked to learn that two pupils from the school had drowned following a canoe mishap at Masiye Dam in Matopos National Park. The pupils who were on an educational trip, had visited Masiye Camp which is run by the Salvation Army Church.

Authorities from the Anglican Church- run boarding school are yet to shed light on what exactly happened leading to the drowning of Melinkosi Mhlanga (19), a Form Five pupil and Blessing Ngwenya (14) who was doing Form One.

Sources, however, said the deceased were among pupils who were assigned to do some tasks and during the process they came across a canoe and decided to take a ride in it.

The seven pupils are said to have paddled the canoe without guides leading to the drowning of the two pupils. Workers at the Camp are said to have reacted to distress calls from pupils and managed to rescue five pupils but by then the two had already drowned.

Many questions remain unanswered and the situation has been worsened by the school authorities that have decided to remain mum. Parents want to know why these pupils were alone when they decided to take a joyride in the canoe. When the pupils were assigned to undertake the tasks in their different groups, were they not being supervised as they undertook the tasks?

We want to believe the pupils were accompanied by several teachers on this education trip and when they got to Masiye Camp they were joined by the camp staffers. The teachers and workers at the Camp were therefore jointly responsible for the pupils’ safety while at the camp.

The Camp’s administrator, Major Shepard Madhaka who said the drowning was the first such incident at the camp, said authorities at the camp always ensured that children visiting the camp were well protected. What is clear is that there was some laxity on Tuesday hence the pupils were allowed to wander without guides or teachers until they stumbled on the canoe leading to the tragedy.

The teachers or guides would not have allowed the inexperienced pupils to paddle the canoe thereby putting their lives at risk. The pupils’ excitement during such outings is understood but it is the responsibility of teachers to ensure pupils do not engage in activities that endanger their lives.

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has already sent a team to investigate this unfortunate incident and we want to believe the team will establish what really happened. Those found guilty of negligence, be it teachers or workers at Masiye Camp, should be punished.

These two pupils did not deserve to die tragically like this while on a sanctioned school trip in the company of teachers who, as already stated, are supposed to be in loco parentis.