THE North West education department's insistence on implementing the controversial demotion of 40 Grade 12 pupils at Leruntse Lesedi Secondary School in Makwassi Hills near Wolmaranstad has led to a pupil attempting suicide.
This comes after the department discovered that 35 pupils were promoted mistakenly to Grade 12.
Five other pupils were also sent to the previous grade after the re-marking of all Grade 12 scripts lastWednesday.
Constance Motlhaoleng, 18, was so upset at the demotion that she swallowed her mother's medication in an attempt to take her own life.
She was unconscious for four days in the intensive care unit at Nic Bodenstein Hospital.
"I felt devastated and did not see the point of living, so I took my mother's sleeping and depression pills and swallowed them one by one.
"It hurts to think that you have passed, just to realise two months later that you do not qualify to be in that grade.
"It felt like my world had just collapsed," she said.
Constance's sister Lucia Marumo said the family blamed the school for their daughter's behaviour.
"They should have verified the reports before issuing them. She is our last born and their carelessness nearly caused me to lose a sister," she said.
Another pupil, Nicoline Mngubani, 18, said she had accepted the demotion but would not forget the frustration she went through after receiving the news.
"I was devastated. I went to Grade 12 study camps and was busy preparing what I was going to wear at my matric dance," she said.
"They took that away, they robbed me of a full year."
Department spokesman Gershwin Chuenyane said seven teachers, including the school principal and heads of department, were charged for issuing fraudulent report cards to pupils.
"We are investigating the matter, everyone who signed the report cards will be held accountable. The department cannot afford such careless mistakes, this is a serious offence," he said.
Chuenyane said the department had had no option but to demote the pupils.
"Had the school allowed these kids to continue, they would have ended up writing the final matric examinations," he said.
Girl tries to kill herself
THE North West education department's insistence on implementing the controversial demotion of 40 Grade 12 pupils at Leruntse Lesedi Secondary School in Makwassi Hills near Wolmaranstad has led to a pupil attempting suicide.
This comes after the department discovered that 35 pupils were promoted mistakenly to Grade 12.
Five other pupils were also sent to the previous grade after the re-marking of all Grade 12 scripts lastWednesday.
Constance Motlhaoleng, 18, was so upset at the demotion that she swallowed her mother's medication in an attempt to take her own life.
She was unconscious for four days in the intensive care unit at Nic Bodenstein Hospital.
"I felt devastated and did not see the point of living, so I took my mother's sleeping and depression pills and swallowed them one by one.
"It hurts to think that you have passed, just to realise two months later that you do not qualify to be in that grade.
"It felt like my world had just collapsed," she said.
Constance's sister Lucia Marumo said the family blamed the school for their daughter's behaviour.
"They should have verified the reports before issuing them. She is our last born and their carelessness nearly caused me to lose a sister," she said.
Another pupil, Nicoline Mngubani, 18, said she had accepted the demotion but would not forget the frustration she went through after receiving the news.
"I was devastated. I went to Grade 12 study camps and was busy preparing what I was going to wear at my matric dance," she said.
"They took that away, they robbed me of a full year."
Department spokesman Gershwin Chuenyane said seven teachers, including the school principal and heads of department, were charged for issuing fraudulent report cards to pupils.
"We are investigating the matter, everyone who signed the report cards will be held accountable. The department cannot afford such careless mistakes, this is a serious offence," he said.
Chuenyane said the department had had no option but to demote the pupils.
"Had the school allowed these kids to continue, they would have ended up writing the final matric examinations," he said.
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