Ministry shocked by schoolgirls’ deaths

‘WHAT might have triggered this innocent, peace-loving girl to commit such an act is beyond the understanding of the school as well as the parents.’

This was a remark from Erongo’s Inspector of Education, Clementine Garises, in a media release regarding the death of Evensulh ‘Mandy’ van Wyk (14) after she committed suicide by hanging herself from her parents’ bedroom ceiling fan last Friday.According to the statement, Mandy ‘was emotional’ after an incident where she was caught on Friday in possession of alcohol with four other girls on the Namib High School’s premises, where she was a pupil.’The grade-9 girl was emotional after the incident at the school but did not tell anyone the real cause of her emotional state that was followed by her tragic death,’ Garises stated.The girl did leave a note that she loved her parents and thanked them for their love and care.With regard to another student that accidentally hanged herself on Monday, Manuela de Waal (13), a grade-8 student of the same school, Garises stated it was a ‘tragic accident’.’Manuela questioned the way Mandy might have taken her life. She put the thought into the practical act as an experiment that went horribly wrong,’ Garises said.Manuela hanged herself with a kitchen cloth in her home’s bathroom, according to the Erongo Police.’Manuela did not commit suicide, hence her schoolbooks open on her bed to proceed with her homework,’ she said.’These two incidents were not directly related since the two girls were nor friends, nor were they in the same group as alleged in the previous newspaper reports.’She said that the Ministry’s Erongo office has, through various experts and regional school counsellors, provided support to the pupils and parents. All the Grade 8 and 9 pupils were also attended to by social workers from the Ministry of Health and Social Services.’We mourn the deaths of our beloved daughters and would like to urge all the learners to turn to the life skills teachers or counselling support groups that exist at each school for advice when on school grounds and to communicate with their parents or peers openly when experiencing stressful situations,’ Garises said. The alcohol incident, according to Ernst Olivier, Headmaster of Namib High, involved a few Grade-9 girls of the school who allegedly had in their possession two plastic water bottles at school. Manuela was not involved in this incident.’The girls admitted that they planned this beforehand and contributed money in order to send a friend to buy the alcohol,’ according to Olivier. The girls’ parents were contacted to fetch their children, and the situation would have been discussed on Monday. Soon after this, Mandy committed suicide.The parents were called into the office on Tuesday.’We discussed a possible punishment for these girls and they returned to school,’ Olivier said.