THE DEATH OF A CLASS MONITOR Joe Kasaka ZNUT (Zambia National Union of Teachers)
After my colleagues from ZNUT Headquarters and I had gone around to schools in Kitwe to sensitise the teachers on the evils of School Related Gender Based Violence (SRGBV) a nasty incident happened at one of the schools involving four grade one pupils. Peter was a quiet, handsome and intelligent grade one boy who was always very smart and loved and admired by many of his friends, his class mates and teachers. Peter was a class monitor. He was a very intelligent boy who always came first in his class. He was always punctual and dressed neatly in his grey school uniform which was always clean, as compared to children of his age who always soiled their uniforms with earth. His uniform looked like it was imported from an international uniform manufacturing company, when in fact it was sewn by his mother who resides in Kwacha compound in the city of Kitwe in Zambia. This seven-year-old boy who always wore a friendly smile came from a medium income family. His parents did not earn enough to make ends meet. The mother sold tomatoes in front of the two bedroomed house they rented from the retired teacher, while the father was an underground miner who worked long hours digging copper in a mine owned by a South African company. The company did no not pay them well despite long hours of hard work. The father could not leave such employment as there were no alternatives given his qualification as a grade twelve school leaver. The day was Monday 6th May 2019, and the school had just opened for the second term. Every child was excited to meet their friends and teachers after 85
