Headmaster on site: teachers of Kreisschule Mutschellen AG provide students with alcohol and cigarettes – class camp in Ticino cancelled

At a class camp at a school in Aargau in Ticino, teachers allegedly provided alcohol and cigarettes for the students. The teachers then left the camp.

The class camp of the Mutschellen district school in Bellinzona was supposed to be an unforgettable week for two classes of students from the first to the third grade of secondary school. However, the trip ended unexpectedly and prematurely, reports “20 Minuten”.

The two class teachers allegedly provided the students with alcohol and cigarettes during a trip to Italy. According to “20 Minuten”, the students are between 12 and 15 years old.

A mother of one of the students involved said her son called her Wednesday night, concerned. Some of his classmates were drunk, and he asked her to inform the principal. “A night of anxiety followed,” the mother said, as she lost contact with her son and couldn’t reach the principal.

Contact was not restored until 1:30 a.m. The young people had to walk back to the hotel because there was no bus service. “The children were scared, they were cold, they were exhausted – and some were still drunk,” she continued.

The teachers defended themselves to “20 Minuten”: “No alcohol or cigarettes were offered to the students, let alone provided. In fact, a few students allowed themselves the fun of pouring grape juice or cola into wine glasses and then drinking them through straws. This may have led to unfortunate images that could be misunderstood. We regret this,” the teachers said.

That the camp had to be dismantled was “simply not true”. There had been pupils from other classes in the hostel who had harassed the pupils from the Aargau class. Therefore, the next morning a meeting was held with the management of the hostel.

Subsequently, the hostel management contacted the school management, who also traveled to Bellinzona.

The school in the Mutschellen district did not issue an official statement about the incident when asked by “20 Minuten”.