24 Jul 2018

Students have been warned that loitering around the city before, during or after school was against the law.

The warning was issued by Superintendent Lebalang Maniki of Francistown Police in an interview with BOPA who said they were aware of the tendency by student to idle around on the last day of the term.

The station commander said the trend was prevalent among senior and junior school students from Francistown and surrounding areas which was of great concern because the idlers often ended up being involved in  crime.

“They converge in small groups from their respective schools, some in Minestone Park where they get involved in unlawful acts like drinking alcohol and use of illicit drugs,” he said.

Alcohol and drugs consequently led to other illegal acts such as fighting and theft.

He said the situation was worse last year with police receiving a number of reports to which they reacted by dispatching officers to restore order.

Supt Maniki said indulgence in alcohol and drugs fuelled the unbecoming behaviour.

Police were therefore compelled to go around different schools to educate students on alcohol and drug abuse.

“We have an outreach programme that is meant to educate students on illegal use of alcohol and illicit drug abuse. Usually we go around schools in partnership with school management to engage students in order to advise and educate them on issues of alcohol and drug abuse. We believe this bad behaviour is caused by abusing alcohol and illicit drugs,” he said.

The initiative, Supt Maniki said, had resulted in a significant drop in the number of cases reported in which students were involved in unlawful activities during that particular day, something he attributed  to cluster policing.

Mater Spei College school head Mr Jabulani Munyere said he was aware of such incidents but that he had never received any reports of his  students being involved in unlawful acts.

He said his students were mostly an obedient crop.

Mr Munyere said this kind of behaviour was born out of excitement about leaving for vacation.

He said they could only talk to students within the school premises noting that they were however working closely with police authorities to curb unbecoming behaviour. ENDS