Seven girls from a Corporate Area high school were barred from graduating last week following their involvement in a bitter argument on the way home from a graduation rehearsal.

The girls told THE STAR that they were among a group of 10 students who were engaged in a heated argument on their way from the rehearsal. However, instead of all of them being penalised, only seven of them were punished.

"It was 10 of us who were in the argument, both boys and girls, plus di headgirl but the principal said that we won't be graduating," said one of the girls.

The dean of discipline for the school told THE STAR that the decision to have the girl barred from participating in the event was a joint decision made by a group including himself and the principal. He said the girls have been constantly involved in numerous incidents and were suspended before.

"The girls were barred from the graduation based on their awful behaviour on the road from the rehearsal. We spoke to persons from the community and students about the girls' behaviour. These seven girls have been suspended from the school before," he said.

The girls, however, believe there is another reason behind them being barred. They said that they recently made accusations that a teacher was involved with one of the students in the argument.

While the dean of discipline said he was aware of this allegation, he said he only discovered this last week and the matter will be investigated. He said the decision to prevent the girls from graduating was only based on the quarrel.

The headgirl was allowed to graduate, he said, mainly because the seven girls were unable to tell them that she acted in a disgraceful manner during the argument. He told THE STAR that he was only aware of eight students being involved in the brawl.