Parents of students of St. Andrews International Primary School (SAIPS) have expressed their horror that teachers had allegedly instructed their children to hide under desks, saying an intruder was on the premises — referring to their teacher Nola Formentin.
In a statement issued after a meeting on Monday, July 11 in which the parents confronted the school management over the indecent assault of Formentin, reveals that one parent reported that their 3-year-old child had asked at home “what an intruder is”, saying the “lockdown drill has caused our children’s mental and emotional trauma”.
The parents are reported to have been told that when the incident was taking place, the children were told to hide under desks as if Formentin had come heavily armed.
Formentin (centre) before the assault
“The leadership used safe-guarding as an excuse for putting the school on lockdown, telling our children to hide under desks from a teacher who came to the school unarmed.
“In case some parents are not aware, Year 6 children were moved from their class to year 4. Doors and windows were shut. The children came back home traumatised by all this.
“We believe this drill was a calculated move to ensure that teachers and children did not witness the seemingly pre-meditated assault of Ms Formentin.
“We are horrified with how the school blatantly lied to parents and the media and misrepresented information concerning the circumstances surrounding Ms Formentin’s assault.”
The statement said some parents — who were on school premises to attend the sports event for the Pre-Nursery — “ saw men wearing body armour, balaclavas, carrying weapons and assaulting a teacher who is still on the payroll”.
“Parents that were there saw the complete absence of leadership by the headteacher in dealing with what was a traumatising event for everyone present.
“This incident was recorded by some parents who were on the school site. We are also equally shocked that whilst Ms Formentin was being assaulted and was screaming, no member of the senior management came out of their offices to stop the manhandling.”
The parents are also aware of “numerous videos taken just before she was manhandled [which] are evidence that the school leadership gave us parents false information”.
“Surely, if there is any CCTV evidence to support their claim of her causing significant trouble and anti-safeguarding behaviour, the leadership would have sited it as evidence.
“We have videos of Ms Formentin on the school site, calmly sitting at the splash Khonde, taking a video of herself, when a security officer is clearly heard saying: ‘this is now an order, take her phone away from her and carry her out’. Our question is where did the order come from?”
According to our sources, the order came from the school’s head of security officer — identified as Andrew Mlomo, an ex-Malawi Defence Force soldier — who was arrested alongside the G4S guards on Friday.
The video we have in possession, and went viral on social media, captures Mlomo instructing the G4S guards to manhandle Formentin and after noticing that she was capturing him, he is heard asking the guards to confiscate the phone.
In the statement, the parents have ordered the school’s management to publicly apologize to Formentin for the assault, saying they were aware that she “was not present at the school site illegally”.
“We know that she had permission from both the school lawyer and her lawyer to come to the school site. It is therefore strange that the leadership would treat her in the manner she was treated.
“We are aware that the treatment Ms Formentin got was a personal vendetta against her because she was the whistleblower for the professional misconduct involving the head and a junior staff member.
“This vindictiveness is what was used to accuse her of sending out the hoax email and suspending her. We would like the school leadership to send a public apology for their conduct and retract the deceptive letter sent to parents about the incident, especially when they knew she was vindicated and proven not guilty.
“We therefore believe that the biggest threat to safe-guarding of our children is the current school leadership,” said the statement.
A statement the school issued on Friday soon after the incident had gone viral on social media, continued to accuse Formentin’s visit as “a deliberate and calculated move to cause as much trouble and commotion as possible and disrupt the smooth running of the school before she leaves”.
The school contended that “whilst the actions of the G4S guards may have appeared to have been disproportionate, we recognised they were put in in a situation where they had no choice.
“As a school, we have serious safeguarding concerns about the conduct of Miss Formentin which required our immediate action.”
The Board of Governors continued to accuse Formentin as the one who leaked the email and despite being cleared by the court, they still maintained in their statement that Formentin “was on suspension [and they] were in the process of writing to advise [her] on the outcome of the suspension”.
“While this had yet to be communicated, she still came on the school premises. We had repeatedly asked Miss Formentin to leave the school site in a quiet and dignified manner after she arrived at 6:15 this morning.
“She refused this and began causing significant trouble across the site. We put the school into lockdown to prevent children from witnessing anything, which they have not.”
Our source who witnessed the scene described the school’s statement as a complete lie when the management contends that “the school was put in an untenable position” by Formentin’s action, saying they did all they “could to prevent the incident escalating”.
On same Friday, the school’s Board released a statement that indicates that in May “a false statement pertaining to be from the Board of governors was circulated” and that “as a result of this, a criminal investigation was launched”.
“Due to the confidential and sensitive nature of this, it has not been possible to share details of this with our school community,” continues the statement. “We would like to thank those parents who have supported us through this period and for their patience in waiting for the outcomes of the investigation as well as those parents who have avoided the Blantyre gossip mill as this has exacerbated the situation.
“The investigation was led by a team of private investigators and deliberately did not include in any way, any member of the school leadership team or Board of Governors to ensure a fair, equitable and confidential process.
“The private investigators are working alongside colleagues in the UK who are experts in the forensic retrieval of technical information such as this as well as Cyber Forensic Police Officers here in Malawi.
“It is now possible to share the initial findings of the investigation as they have been categorically verified through the identification of the computer used to write and send the statement.”
The statement further says the forensic investigation indicates that the “email and statement were written and sent by a previous member of “early years team”.
“The case is currently with Interpol who are working to ensure an arrest and that justice is served against the criminal offenses of intellectual property theft and impersonation.
“We are also currently following legal processes to deal with libel and defamation of character which are also being taken very seriously.
“This investigation remains ongoing and we already know that this has led to individuals being linked to the case.
“Although this is part of our internal HR processes, this investigation is still being run by private investigators to continue ensuring the process remains fair and equitable.
“As a school, we continue to have a zero-tolerance policy towards threats, bullying and behaviours which bring the name of the school into disrepute.
“Our school should be a safe place for all pupils, families and staff. We will fight to ensure that this is the case by applying the same zero-tolerance policy to anyone who associates themselves with this kind of activity.”
After the parents met with the management on Monday as a result of the release of the footage of Formentin’s assault, they demanded the immediate dismissal of the school’s principal, vice-principal and the assistant principal — which “the Board of Governors has accepted and is in the process of dismissing the three women”.
