Don’t spare the rod on pupils – Zwelithini

‘It makes learners perform well’

Zulu monarch King Goodwill Zwelithini has bemoaned the banning of corporal punishment‚ saying that the rod would “make learners perform well”.

Speaking at a meeting of principals and school governing bodies from the Umkhanyakude and King Cetshwayo districts in northern KwaZulu-Natal‚ yesterday‚ Zwelithini said that discipline had to be enforced.

“This thing of not disciplining our children is letting us down. What we disagree with is when the child was not being disciplined‚ but gets “killed‚” he said.

Although corporal punishment was abolished in terms of the Schools Act of 1996‚ some teachers are still using it.

Zwelithini also spoke strongly against the killing of teachers in schools and urged government to protect them.

“The death of one teacher is one too many,” he said.

He made mention of the recent incident at Edalinceba Primary School in Duduza‚ Ekurhuleni‚ where deputy principal Mswati Nyembe was shot and killed in his office.

Three people have been arrested for his murder.

Speaking at the same event‚ provincial department of education deputy director general for curriculum development‚ Barney Mthembu‚ implored principals to ensure that there was no repeat of the group copying scandal which rocked the matric class of 2014.

Mthembu said the lives of those learners were at a standstill while the teachers who assisted them were continuing with their lives.

“People who gave them answers are continuing with their lives and their children are in universities.”

About 3000 matric pupils across the country were implicated in the group copying scandal in 2014.