A team of medical and psychiatric officers have been deployed to Gasita Primary School to assist pupils who are said to be attacked by some mysterious creature.
In an interview, the Southern District Education Officer; Safety, Health and Environment, Ms Esaleone Kgopana said this was after they received reports indicating that some of the 13 allegedly attacked pupils were being attended to at the Seventh Day Adventist in Kanye after they fell unconscious.
She said they were currently conducting some counselling sessions involving pupils and teachers to provide therapy.
“We have deployed a team of nurses and psychiatrists to attend the pupils after noticing some signs of abnormal behaviour with them,” she said.
Ms Kgopana raised concern that, as a result of the alleged attacks, pupils had been absconding from school in fear of being attacked.
She said according to learners the mysterious creature roamed the school, terrorising and attacking mostly standard six and seven pupils.
She said the mysterious creature was surprisingly only visible to the victims, as those attacked were the ones who could describe its features.
“We have noticed a disturbance in our pupils as they become dizzy and unconscious,” she said.
Ms Kgopana said they were monitoring the situation with the assistance of health practitioners.
She cautioned against negative influence saying there were parents who were allegedly influencing their kids to abscond from school.
“Cooperation between teachers and students is critical as we do not wish to have students absconding from school,” she said.
She advised that health practitioners be accorded the consent to refer students for further tests where it was necessary.
Ms Kgopana also shared that they had agreed with the community to engage the different religious denominations in the village to conduct a prayer session.
Kgosi Dineo Mothoemang confirmed that there was an outcry in the village about the mysterious creature suspected to be attacking the pupils.
He said there were claims of similar attacks in some of the homesteads in the past weeks.
He said he was pleased that the community together with the teachers and health personnel had agreed to hold prayer sessions for the school.