[imagesource: Selborne College / Facebook]

East London, or ‘Slummies’, as many affectionately call it, is a funny old place.

The people I know who call it home aren’t afraid of a good jol, but it looks like, for the time being at least, the party is over for pupils at Selborne College.

That’s because the school’s principal, Andrew Dewar, has now warned pupils that they will be suspended for doing so, after an increasing number of pupils at the school have been self-isolating at home after attending “social gatherings”.

TimesLIVE has the story:

Frustrated with pupils who could not return to school while in isolation for 14 days, he penned a letter to parents on July 18, voicing his strong disapproval of their children’s behaviour.

“It has been most disappointing to learn of late that many of our learners have been unable to return to school due to direct contact with positive cases at social  gatherings.

“Please do not use the excuse, ‘I did not know at the time!’ Your sons should not have left home in the first place,” he wrote.

“This relaxed approach by families, regarding the socialising habits of their boys, places our campus at risk.”

I would do just about anything to score a day off school growing up, so the idea of 14 days spent at home sounds heavenly.

On a more serious note, the pupils are also endangering the lives of teachers at the school with preexisting conditions.

Whereas Dewar had previously allowed self-quarantining at home without any form of punishment, he’s now made it clear that it will be regarded as a “disciplinary issue”, with the pupil suspended and responsible for catching up any work, and tests missed, on their own time.

It’s not just Selborne that has expressed disappointment at the relaxed attitudes of pupils, either:

In Cape Town, David de Korte, principal of Camps Bay High, said 14 pupils attending a party at a pupil’s home recently came into contact with an infected person.

“Three of them left the one gathering and then went to another gathering in the course of the evening, where there were eight people. In just one evening, 22 people were exposed to the virus.”

He said in the three days it took the group to get diagnosed, they also came into contact with other people.

“I know of two of them who tested positive for the virus.”

De Korte said after he spoke to parents, they cracked the whip and put a stop to social gatherings.

Whilst de Korte says that the school is doing everything it can to protect both pupils and staff, the “relaxed attitude” off the premises “makes a mockery of all our efforts”.

If I was a teacher, or anybody involved in the day to day running of a school, adhering to strict safety protocols to protect pupils, and they were running around jolling with friends, I’d be tempted to dish out a proper clip around the ears.

I’d then lose my job, so perhaps I’d settle for handing out a Saturday detention plucking weeds from the school field.

Is that still a thing?

[source:timeslive]