Ndengetho High School pupils in KwaZulu-Natal allegedly set fire to several classrooms after police confiscated about 400 phones during a spot search on Thursday.
Provincial education department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said police were called in to search the children for drugs and weapons, when they also found cellphones, which are also prohibited at the school, west of Durban.
The pupils were told the police would keep the cellphones at the police station, as they would not fit in the school’s safe and it was unsafe to keep so many phones on school premises.
“When the police left, the pupils thought the teachers were soft targets, and then they torched the school building,” Mahlambi said.
He said management had two meetings with parents at the weekend.
“Pupils were able to…