Drinking at Negumbo is a no-no

ALCOHOL, whether in containers or the stomach, is not allowed at Negumbo Senior Secondary School.

The school tuck shop does not sell cigarettes, while a tour of the teachers’ flats throughout this week did not reveal any signs of empty beer bottles or cigarette packets.

A drinking culture cannot be tolerated at the school, according to the principal Iiyambo Alugongo.

Alugongo says teachers who drink can be tempted to dodge classes after a long night of drinking. Asked how he knows that his teachers do not drink during working hours, Alugongo says: “I am not saying they do not drink at all. Some do drink, but moderately. It is easy to tell when someone has been drinking. We socialise with them.”

He says the rationale is simply to keep order at the school.

“If you drink at school, how can you perform? Alcohol has destroyed family settings, schools and every aspect of our society. We cannot allow it to destroy this school,” he says in a serious tone.

Alugongo says teachers as leaders need to be careful how they conduct themselves, not only at school, but also in public.

“If people see you drinking at cuca shops, they will not respect you,” he observes, adding that they are, however, fortunate that all teachers who join the school learn the ropes fast.

Since 2006 when he came to the school, there has not been any cases of drunkenness involving a teacher.

It is even more serious for pupils if they are seen drunk.

“Once caught, they are out [of the hostels]. They know this and they do not break the rules, because no one wants to leave the school. Getting admitted will be difficult,” he says. He encourages parents not to give their children a lot of money, because getting more money than is needed for basics can tempt them to visit cuca shops.

Some of the teachers concur with the headmaster, with the entrepreneurship teacher, Eliakim Shilongo, saying drinking during week days is unproductive with unpleasant consequences.

“You do not want to drink when you have something to do. You want to do it when you can rest and have no responsibility on your shoulders,” Shilongo says, adding that during the week, they focus on helping pupils and attending to studies in the evening.

“Friday would be an ideal day because then one can rest on Saturday,” Shilongo said.

There are no studies on Saturdays. On Sundays, there are evening studies which start at 19h00.

Another teacher, Naambo Shivute, who teaches biology, chips in, saying teachers should maximise the available time preparing for lessons and marking of pupils’ homework.

“It is not right to drink during week days at all,” Shivute emphatically says.

She feels that no teacher should drink alcohol during the school term, but should wait for the school holidays when they are free.

“They should not even drink alcohol on weekends, because they could suffer a hang-over when school starts for the new week. That lowers productivity,” she asserts.

Hostel superintendent Simeon Hamunyela says they have never had a case where pupils have scaled the barbed wire that surrounds the hostels to go drinking or visit others.

“Pupils do not climb over the walls. We never had such a case. The wire was put there for safety and to deal with problems of theft,” Hamunyela, who came to the school in 2005, says.

In the past, some pupils would sneak from classes to steal other pupils’ belongings, and there were times when outsiders too sneaked into the school to steal.

“With theft one never really knows who the guilty parties are, but since we put up the wall, theft cases have decreased,” Hamunyela reveals.

This school was established in 1999 with 233 Grade 11 pupils, 12 teachers and 22 non-teaching staff. Now it is home to 479 pupils, 23 teachers and 28 non-teaching staff.

It has so far had three principals.

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