THE national government and the private sector have donated R2-million to renovate 18 Mpumalanga schools that were damaged by floods early this year. Mpumalanga education spokesman Peter Maminza said on Tuesday that the donation would initially be spent on schools affected in the Nelspruit, Malelane and Hazyview districts. Maminza said his department was also negotiating with foreign and local private sector companies to secure more funds to renovate other affected schools in the province. He said the department would conduct searches on schools to get rid of criminals who posed as school pupils. Maminza said the department intended to rid schools of gangsterism, racial tension, vandalism, teenage pregnancies, child molestation and drug trafficking. He said strong measures were going to be taken against community members who sold liquor to pupils and under-aged children during school hours. Maminza said tertiary institutions had shown interest in helping improve matric results.