Litany of serious classroom abuse

A PUPIL in Gauteng reported being threatened with a knife, knocked unconscious and raped by a teacher. The teacher was found not guilty at a disciplinary hearing and a police inquiry is continuing.

In 2011, pupils in Gauteng were hit with a broken pipe until they agreed to have sex with their teacher. He was found guilty of gross misconduct and arrested, but no criminal charges were pursued.

A group of Grade 4 boys in Limpopo were made to stand on their toes for not doing their homework. When one of them could not perform the punishment because of a metal plate in a foot, he was beaten and needed medical treatment to the injured foot.

The principal of a school in Mpumalanga told a social worker that Grade 12 pupils were beaten after being accused of poor academic performances. He said the parents had consented to corporal punishment when they signed the school’s admission forms.

A teacher, who verbally abused a Johannesburg child for wearing a religious bracelet, was briefly suspended.

An Mpumalanga pupil died after being beaten for missing a day’s school. The teacher was fired after a disciplinary inquiry, but criminal charges were withdrawn because of insufficient evidence. — Dominic Skelton