More than 3.000 pupils, children out of school, parents, teachers and local politicians marched through the town demanding education for all.
Pupils in four schools made maps of the needs of their schools. At Cavalete B School in Milange the map showed rain pouring into the classrooms, lack of tables, chairs and even toilets.
When the administrator, president of the town council and director of the school directorate saw the bad conditions, they promised to build a new school within a year. And the director admitted that the reason why the approximately 1.500 pupils and 13 teachers had suffered with the bad conditions for many years, had been lack of political will.
At Molumbo School the pupils had investigated cases of abuse against children. Two teachers were denounced in the community radio. One for making a 14 year old pupil pregnant. Another for throwing a pupil, who was is love with the same girl as the teacher, out of school.
Now the school councils demands, that the teachers will be sacked. The councils, where parents are represented, encourage pupils to continue denouncing teachers, who abuse them. And if the district directorate for education don't investigate the cases, then the school councils promise to continue complaining to the next level, the provincial directorate for education.
"The idea is to put so much pressure on the district directorate for education, that it does something seriously to stop the widespread abuse of children", explains Costa Daniel, coordinator of Ibis' education for development project in Milange, EDMI.
Ibis led the commission, which planned the Action Week for Education in the district./tgn
