VUWANI – Pupils of Ramaligela Primary School in the Vuwani area, were shocked to find a huge python lying close to their school last week.

There is no fence around the schoolyard. The principal, Ms Livhuwani Ramaligela said that it is not safe for the teachers and pupils because "it is a school of snakes and monkeys." According to her, they are getting used to it to frequently see different kinds of snakes. When finding the snake, the pupils went to the principal and told him about the "big lizard crawling next to the wall".

The principal ignored the children, but one child stated that it was snake not a lizard. He indicated to other children he saw a similar snake on the television programme 50/50. "It is the second time we found a python in our schoolyard. It is not good for our children, who know nothing about snakes. We are lucky that the snake did not injure one of them, because they were provoking it," she said. Ramaligela then called the community to find the python, but it was not easy to kill it, because it was hiding in the small bushes next to the building.

That school of Ramaligela is totally isolated and the pupils and staff do not have the basic items like a fence, sports ground, toilets or tap water and the children are travelling long distances through the bushes to the school.