“We are not safe” - teachers

Educators at Madaheni Secondary School in the Louis Trichardt area are up in arms against the school governing body (SGB) and the Department of Education, accusing them of practising double standards.

This follows more than one alleged assault on educators – the first already happened in December last year, and another incident took place recently.

The first alleged assault was reported to the SGB, and the local circuit is said to be in the know but has not acted against the learner as per the education department’s policy.

Educators who spoke on condition of anonymity said they no longer felt safe and free to teach at the school as they did not have anybody on their side to protect them.

The learner who allegedly attacked the educator in December is reportedly no longer attending classes taught by the educator, and this has become a source for concern as the Grade 9 learner will not get marks for the two subjects.

"We are in an awkward position here, not even knowing where to run to for protection. The department has set rules that are clear on what happens to a learner who attacks an educator,” a teacher said.

According to the teacher, the rule is simple: “There should be a hearing and the SGB recommends to the HOD a suspension or the learner is relocated to another school, which did not happen in this case. We are helpless and not protected, and the incident has set a bad precedent and learners are now doing as they wish.”

On 23 July this year, another learner allegedly attacked another educator, “and nothing happened to the learner,” said a teacher who preferred anonymity.

Another teacher added that no discipline was being enforced at the school and that this was affecting the performance of learners “who are now doing as they wish. The SGB and school management are doing nothing to stop this and we are left with no option, as the learners act with impunity as they wish. We are sitting ducks. They do wrong and we have to keep quiet for fear of being attacked”.

The educator said the department was exercising double standards because if an educator beat a learner, the department would make a lot of noise and the educator would end up losing their job, but when it came to learners beating educators, nothing was done.

The spokesperson for the Department of Education, Mr Sam Makondo, said both matters had been referred to the SGB for processing as per the policy of the school. "It cannot be allowed that our educators feel unsafe when at work because there are certain learners who threaten them one way or the other. There must be consequences in this case. That is why we want the SGB to follow all the processes as set out in the South African Schools Act when dealing with learners who misbehave.”

He added that something was being done after the department had realised that the processes had not been followed in the first place in dealing with these cases. “Learners must know their place when in school and our educators are there to show them the way," Makondo said.

School SGB chairperson Mr Isaac Ratombo confirmed the two incidents and said they had found that the first pupil who had allegedly used a stone to hit the educator was not guilty, but that the complainant was not satisfied with the verdict. Ratombo could not explain as to why the learner had been suspended for seven days and told to repair the window he had broken, as part of the punishment imposed on him, if he had not done anything wrong.

He said the second case had been dealt with amicably between the learner and the complainant. "Here we also punished the learner and suspended him for seven days."

Date:01 September 2019

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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