Parents have expressed relief as teaching and learning resumed at Onkgopotse Tiro Comprehensive School yesterday.

Pupils at the North West school disrupted classes last week, demanding to move back to their hostel which is still under renovation and threatening to occupy the teachers' quarters.

A parent Jeanette Mokgatle said she was stressing when she heard that pupils of the school in a rural area northeast of Mahikeng were boycotting classes.

"I struggled to sleep at night thinking about the future of my child who is doing grade 10 at the school," Mokgatle said.

"I did not send her to school to spend time protesting but I wanted her to get a better education. It is never a good thing for our children to burn tyres in the school property. As a parent I am truly against that."

Another parent Modise Chabalala, whose child is also in grade 10, said parents should not be scared to reprimand their children when they do wrong things.

"We can't fold our arms when our children are destroying their future. There were other ways of resolving the problems but not by burning tyres and disrupting classes. As parents, we should talk to our children about the results of disrupting classes, that is not a good thing at all," Chabalala said.

Last week, pupils were sent home by the school governing body as they felt that they were not interested in attending lessons. The pupils were told to come back to school accompanied by their parents.

Education MEC Mmaphefo Matsemela said she was happy that pupils were back in class. "

As a department we were disappointed by the disruptions of the lessons caused by the pupils. We are going to ensure that teachers roll out the recovery plan to all pupils," Matsemela said.