FOLLOWING last week’s traumatising bee invasion, which saw over 50 students taken to hospital, classes at Erundu Combined School in Oshakati have finally resumed - but not without a newly instilled fear of insects amongst the students.

Police vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances rushed to the combined primary and secondary school last week Tuesday after a swarm of bees began to attack Erundu students.
The bees started to terrorise the prestigious Oshakati State School, which has a current enrolment of around 1,200 students, after one young student poked a beehive with a stick and began throwing objects at the insects.
Four students from the lower primary grades were immediately admitted to the Oshakati State Hospital, while seven others remained under observation.
The day after the attack, Acting Principal Hofni Kapolo was heard on radio encouraging parents to bring their children back to school, as the situation was reportedly ‘under control’.
“The people from Nature Conservation have removed the beehive and there are no more bees at the school. I’m urging all parents to bring their children back to school so that they can continue with class activities,” Kapolo said.
Although some students attended classes last week Wednesday, most only returned to the school this week - all with a newfound fear of flying insects.
“Most of us are still very afraid. Once when we were on break time, a fly flew past some students and they started screaming. Then everyone started running. We thought it was another bee,” a Grade 10 student said.
Class activities at the school are also believed to have been seriously interrupted.
“Everybody has a story to tell and that’s all we seem to be discussing during classes. Everybody is afraid that we will have a repeated episode of last week. Even the teachers seem to be scared,” said another Grade 10 student.