FIVE female teachers were dismissed on Thursday for forcing 16 pupils to simulate sex in front of a class three years ago, a government official said. The five, from a primary school in the village of Waterval in eastern Mpumalanga, in 1996 forced boys and girls aged between eight and 12 to perform sexual acts in front of their classmates during a story-telling session. Medical examinations showed that one of the girls had been penetrated. The teachers were suspended immediately after the incident but continued to receive their wages. They were also arrested, charged and released on bail. In August a court found them guilty in court of serious sexual misconduct, giving them each a five-year suspended sentence and a R5000 fine. An education department tribunal on Thursday decided the teachers should be fired, a department spokesman said.