WILLIAM Pitcher College Principal Dr Ntombifuthi Mhlongo has raised the alarm over the growing psychosocial challenges facing students.
She revealed that some have been spending their entire allowances on online gambling and drugs, with some subsequently being admitted to the National Psychiatric Referral Hospital.
Mhlongo made the revelation last Thursday during a visit to the institution by Minister of Education and Training, Owen Nxumalo, who engaged the administration and the Student Representative Council (SRC) on challenges affecting the institution.
According to the principal, the college lacks dedicated personnel to provide psychological counselling and address the personal challenges confronting students, despite the growing need for such services.
She said some students were struggling to manage the money they received as allowances, with online gambling emerging as a major concern. Others, she added, had turned to drugs, raising fears about the impact of substance abuse on their mental health and academic performance.
Mhlongo disclosed that the institution had, over the years, referred students to the National Psychiatric Referral Hospital after they developed mental health problems associated with drug use and online gambling.
“We do not have a counsellor, dean of student affairs or registrar who could take care of the students and help them overcome the issues they are faced with,” she said.
The principal explained that the college did not have established posts for these positions, despite having previously raised the matter with Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Education and Training Naniki Mnisi.
She said there was an urgent need for the ministry of public service to create the necessary posts to ensure that qualified personnel could attend to students’ psychological and personal challenges.
Beyond the psychosocial challenges, Mhlongo said the college was grappling with a shortage of lecturers following a series of retirements, placing additional pressure on the institution’s ability to deliver quality education.
She revealed that the college had lost seven lecturers during the current financial year, with five having recently been bade farewell upon reaching retirement age, while the two left last month.
Mhlongo expressed concern over the slow pace of replacing departing lecturers, noting that students still needed to continue with their studies despite the staffing gaps.
She said delays in filling vacant positions placed an additional burden on the remaining lecturers and threatened the smooth running of academic activities.
Mhlongo also raised concerns over the absence of adequate recreational facilities at the college, saying this had left students spending much of their free time in surrounding areas such as Ticantfwini.
She noted that these areas were associated with drug and alcohol use, a situation that concerned the administration given the existing challenges involving substance abuse among students.
The principal was hopeful that the situation would improve following a request to incorporate indoor sporting courts into the school hall currently under construction.
She explained that the proposed facilities would provide students with a safer environment in which to engage in indoor sporting activities rather than spending their leisure time wandering around nearby neighbourhoods.
The college is also experiencing a serious shortage of transport, with Mhlongo revealing that it currently has only one van to cater for its various operational needs.
She said the institution previously had a Quantum minibus, but it developed mechanical problems and had yet to be repaired.
The shortage, she explained, had affected lecturers who needed to attend meetings and other official engagements, while students sometimes depended on vehicles belonging to ministries with which the college had working relationships.
The principal identified persistent class boycotts as another major challenge, attributing many of the disruptions to delays in the disbursement of students’ allowances.
She explained that the college previously provided students with meals through its cafeteria, a system she said had helped reduce hunger-related grievances and the frequency of class boycotts.
However, she said following changes to the scholarship disbursement arrangement, under which students began receiving their personal allowances directly into their bank accounts, the institution had experienced more frequent disruptions.
Mhlongo said some students depended entirely on their allowances for survival, as their families were either unable to provide financial assistance because of economic hardship or had passed away, leaving them classified as orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC).
As a result, she said the institution had been receiving repeated notices warning of possible water and electricity disconnections, threatening to disrupt its daily operations.
