Police said the two faculty members began shooting with handguns after angry students pelted them with stones to protest an overcharge on transport fees for a class trip.

``It's shocking because these things you see on TV, now it's happening in our area,'' said Mandla Msibi, spokesman for the Department of Education in the Kwazulu-Natal province, where the shootings occurred.

The shootings yesterday at a high school outside Scottburgh, a coastal town 50 km south of Durban, the province's main city, occurred after pupils paid ten rand ($1.60) for a field trip but then were told the fee was only eight rand ($1.30), police director Bala Naidoo said. The students demanded a refund for the difference but the teachers refused, Naidoo said.

It was the latest and most bizarre violent incident to occur in schools in South Africa, a country that has been experiencinga growing crime wave. A month ago, an elementary school principal was shot and killed outside her office at a school in Soweto, near Johannesburg, by robbers who stole her money, jewellery and car.

Sithembiso Gcwenya, 19, was killed and Sibusiso Mbutho, 19, and Bheki Mnyandu 18, were wounded, Msibi said.

He said the principal and teacher were charged with murder and attempted murder and were released on 1,000 rand ($160) bail apiece.

``We're calling on everyone to be calm and let the law take its course,'' Msibi said.