Abusive teachers not on register

● The names of only 23 teachers appear on the National Child Protection Register, despite hundreds of them being found guilty of sexual assault.

● The register, which was launched in 2010 and is kept by the department of social development, has 1 ,386 names.

● Department spokesperson Jaconia Kobue confirmed that the South African Council for Educators (Sace) started submitting names only in April this year.

● Between April 2017 and March this year, 36 teachers were hauled before disciplinary hearings in four provinces for allegedly having sexual relationships with pupils, and a further 24 for sexual assault. ● Sace spokesperson Themba Ndhlovu said the names submitted to social development were those of teachers struck off the teachers’ roll.

● He failed to respond to follow-up questions about why so few teachers’ names appear on the register, and why Sace has not submitted names for the past seven years. — Prega Govender