Outrage as teacher hits pupil
SOCIAL media was buzzing with comments and shares as a cellphone video showing a teacher slapping a pupil at Sans Souci Girls’ High, in Cape Town, went viral.
The provincial Department of Education instituted an investigation and said both will face sanction.
However, Facebook trawlers were divided over whether the teacher was right to slap the pupil who can be seen engaging with her in an argument over a cellphone, provoking the teacher with back chats and pushing her desk towards the teacher.
The episode was recorded by a fellow pupil on a cellphone.
While the student organisation Cosas, labelled the incident as racism because the teacher at one point objected to the pupil speaking isiXhosa, a group of pupils at the school held banners in front of the hall reading: “This is not racism” and “Teacher is not a racist”. The banners were held by black pupils.
The Education Department visited the school yesterday and said the teacher will have a disciplinary hearing with the school governing body.
“The investigation will also determine whether the pupil will face a disciplinary action.”
Jonavon Rustin, the provincial secretary of the SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) said that pupils disrespecting teachers has become a frequent occurrence.
The most common complaints that Sadtu has been receiving involves corporal punishment from teachers and insolent behaviour, swearing, assault and disrespect from pupils.
“There is a need to train teachers on how to deal with pupils who show anti-social behaviour. Teachers have the basic skills, but huge class sizes cause problems with classroom management. All pupils may at some time show anti-social behaviour and teachers do need support services in the schools.
“According to the schools code of conduct, there are certain behaviours from educators and pupils that are not tolerable. However, teachers do experience various challenges in classrooms that can lead to an increasing amount of strain on an educator.”
MEC for Education Debbie Schäfer said teachers do experience many disciplinary challenges in schools on a daily basis, however, the use of violence to deal with pupils shows signs of behavioural issues.
Dr Trevor Moodley, head of the department of educational psychology at UWC said: “The incident reflects a deeper systemic problem. Schools are microcosms of society and such incidents at South African schools reflect the challenges that we face as a society.
“Teachers, in particular, are expected to uphold the professional standards in an almost robot-line manner, despite the many challenges they experience form pupils, school administrators and parents. This leads to high levels of stress and burnout.”
He said much more needs to be done to support both pupils and teachers in addressing factors that lead to such acts of violence.
“However, the school cannot address the challenges on its own. Much more has to be done by Education Department and relevant departments in supporting schools. Parents need to take a bigger responsibility for their children’s (mis)behaviour.”
Malvern de Bruyn, provincial secretary of Cosatu, said: “The teacher should have called the child out and referred the issue to the principal before things got out of hand. The Educational Department should play a bigger role. They should make sure that teachers are fully equipped to deal with all situations. Parents need to know whether kids are safe on school.”
Schools are microcosms of society and such incidents reflect the challenges that we face Dr Trevor Moodley
Head of educational psychology at UWC