The first impression a person gets when approaching Collège St. André is a place that provides a holistic learning environment for students as they prepare them for the future.

Being a Catholic affiliated school, one would think that it has strict rules that are supposed to be adhered to by students and tight security measures for anyone entering the school.

However, for a school that gives out such an impression, it was a shock when people learnt on Tuesday morning that a 17-year-old girl hacked her chemistry teacher with a machete leaving a deep cut on the right side of his head. Getting to the school on Wednesday morning, the place was quiet with little activity going on.

The compound in front of Principal Father Lambert Dusingizimana’s office had two cars parked. One was a police car that had just brought the suspect (name withheld because she’s a minor). Students were in class and a few others were at the principal’s office.

The cause of the shocking attack remains a mystery with several conspiracy theories doing rounds.

According to Police Spokesperson, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Célestin Twahirwa, the police was still conducting investigations and won’t give away any information–just yet. But a student who preferred anonymity shared with us what transpired that day.

"We did exams last term and even got our report cards. At the beginning of this term, our chemistry teacher, Jean-Baptiste Gasoma, brought our exam papers from last term and asked us to check if the marks correspond with those on our report cards or if there were errors in the marking,” he said.

He explained that when a mistake is noticed, it can be rectified and corrections can also be made on the report cards.

"However, (the suspect) didn’t agree with her marks and decided to distort them and deceive the teacher into adding her more marks than she deserved,” he added.

The teacher discovered that the girl had distorted the marks because the handwriting wasn’t close to his (the teacher). The teacher allegedly refused to accept the distorted marks but the girl insisted. It’s then that she was told to report her case to the Director of Studies for further verification.

"The girl didn’t wait to go to the director of studies for help; rather she took the matter into her own hands. On the fateful day, it was before the morning assembly when Gasoma arrived in the laboratory, which is pretty much his office, to prepare for the day’s lesson” he said.

The laboratory is located near the assembly space and next door were Seventh-Day Adventists conducting morning prayers. That is when the suspect entered the school premises with other students. However, all that was about to change.

"She didn’t waste any time around the school compound. She went straight to laboratory and told the teacher that she had come so they could solve their issue. When the teacher bent to pick something, she took the panga out of her bag and hit him on the left side of his head and bruised his arm as well,” he claimed.

At that point, he said the teacher realised that she was serious and a scuffle ensued with the teacher yelling for help. Students who were going for assembly and those who were praying close by came to his rescue.

"The teacher was already oozing blood while struggling with the girl whose white school shirt was also soaked in blood. The girl was pulled away and the teacher said, "take that student away” and he collapsed on the floor,” the student told The New Times.

School authorities were immediately called and the teacher was taken to the University Teaching Hospital Kigali (CHUK) for treatment. Police was also called immediately to the crime scene which was immediately sealed off.

The suspect was also taken to CHUK for medical check-ups because she seemed traumatised.

On searching the suspect’s school bag, no books or pens were found; she had only carried a machete and another pair of uniform. However, although to fellow students the cause of the incident is about the marks, the principal doesn’t believe so.

"We don’t know for sure what the cause could be because we have all been students and no one has ever attacked a teacher over marks. It doesn’t add up. However, let Police conduct investigations and then, maybe, we shall be able to know what triggered the incident,” said Dusingizimana.

He said there were no tough security measures in place because students are not regularly searched unless the need arises, like if they suspect liquor or illicit drugs are being brought into the school.

"We have more than 200 students who use that gate; we can’t be searching them daily. But it’s true the weapon is a machete that was carried into the school. She didn’t find it within the school premises,” he added.

During our visit to the school, the suspect’s mother and relatives had come to see their daughter but left promptly when police denied them access to her. Later, police and school authorities took the suspect back to the crime scene in what was meant to trigger her memory and re-trace her footsteps that led to the incident.

The student was still in police custody as investigations were still on-going. On the other hand, Gasoma was discharged from hospital and is recovering from home but declined to speak to us, referring us to police for more details.

By press time, the teacher, together with officials from Ministry of Education, had visited the school to reassure students that everything was under control and their teacher was doing well.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw