Shocked Grade 11 pupils watched as two girls allegedly helped a 19-year-old classmate deliver twins before attempting to flush the babies down the school toilet.

The incident apparently happened at Senthibele Secondary School in Soshanguve, Pretoria, at about 11am on Wednesday when the girl gave birth to twins – a boy and a girl.

The babies allegedly drowned instantly in the gushing toilet water but did not go down the drain.

A pupil who did not want to be named said the heavily pregnant girl walked out of class and headed for the toilets.

“Her friend followed. After a few minutes she came back in a hurry to call another girl in the classroom. My friend who is in the same class said they did not know what was happening but they could see something big was going on.

“She said about 20 minutes passed and then she decided to go and see for herself what was happening. She allegedly bumped into a teacher carrying a bundle wrapped in a cloth on her way from the toilets,” the pupil said.

She said she found shocked pupils gathered in and around the toilets. The floor of one of the toilets was covered in blood.

She said a teacher came back and chased the pupils away. When Sowetan visited the school on Friday, most pupils refused to talk about the incident because they had been ordered not to do so.

One pupil said she had decided to talk because she was upset, “especially because the three pupils had committed murder and by hiding it, the school management is condoning the incident”.

The three girls have apparently not been to school since the incident.

No one seems to know what happened to the drowned newborn twins.

Gauteng education department spokesman Kate Bapela said she learnt about the incident from Sowetan and condemned it, saying “a school is a place of learning and our goal is to ensure that pupils finish their schooling. We cannot have pupils giving birth at school. It is traumatic and depressing for both pupils and teachers. How do you come to school knowing you are due? Pupils are given life-orientation lessons but we cannot prevent them from falling pregnant.”

Bapela advised pupils to stay away from sexual activity. The school management refused to talk to Sowetan.

Tshwane police spokesman Lucas Sithole was not aware of the incident.