ICY HOSTELS: Boarding students rise at 3am to make fire for bathing

Shashe River School students in Tonota, Central District, are enduring a winter nightmare, bathing with cold water, as biting cold grips the country and frost blankets the ground.

But this is no recent crisis.

At the school’s hostels the boys have reportedly gone without hot water for nearly a full year, enduring the same hardship even during summer.

With no electricity in the hostels, electric kettles are useless, and in a desperate attempt to stay clean and warm, boys have resorted to waking up as early as 3:00 am to collect firewood and boil water in tins, a daily ritual that risks their health and robs them of sleep.

It is either they wake up and make a fire to heat water or go to class without a bath.

So dire is the situation that moved by compassion, security guards sometimes help students heat water before the chilly school mornings begin.

This publication has established that the root of the problem is a failed transformer.

When contacted this past Tuesday, Member of Parliament for Tonota, Gaefele Sedombo, confirmed to The Midweek Sun that he raised the issue in Parliament.

“The transformer burnt. They procured another, and it also burnt. I have been informed that repairs should begin next Monday when new materials arrive at the school,” Sedombo said.

The MP visited the school and found a glaring disparity; girls were receiving warm water from the kitchen while boys were left to fend for themselves.

He confirmed that the problem dates to August last year.

Meanwhile, the school is battling yet another sanitation crisis. Sedombo revealed that students have broken several taps, resulting in pools of stagnant water and a foul stench around campus, which raises serious health concerns.

Despite repeated promises from authorities, frustration is mounting among students, parents, and staff who feel the issue has been ignored for too long.

“It’s unacceptable,” a staff member said. “This is not just a comfort issue. It is a health and dignity crisis.”

The crisis at Shashe school comes at a time when the school emerged as the best-performing in the country according to the 2024 Botswana General Certificate for Secondary Education (BGCSE).

This was attributed to the hard work of the students, teachers, and parents. However, given the current state of affairs, fears are that they might not be able to maintain their top achiever status when the 2025 results are announced next year.