SECTION27 is adamant to deal with corporal punishment at schools as they will make an example of two teachers who allegedly assaulted pupils in grades 2 and 5.
The public interest law centre has approached the Supreme Court of Appeal in a bid to ensure the two teachers are given fresh hearings by partly appealing a judgment by the North Gauteng High Court.
This as they believe both teachers received lenient sanctions from the South African Council for Educators (Sace), which were based on its internal policy called the “Mandatory Sanctions Policy”.
In 2019, two teachers were reported to Sace for serious assault on young pupils. In the first incident, a grade 2 pupil was allegedly hit on the head with a PVC pipe, while in the second incident, a grade 5 pupil suffered a lasting ear bleed, leading to being from school and repeating a grade after teacher allegedly hit her on the cheek and head.
When Sace upheld the matter in 2019, the teachers were fined R15 000 of which R5 000 was suspended. The sanctions included striking their names off the teachers' roll, which was suspended for 10 years, allowing them to return to the classroom.
Section27 spokeswoman Pearl Nicodemus said the sanctions were lenient.
“This means that these teachers are still teaching in the classrooms with no consideration for pupils’ safety and no obligation on the teachers to correct their behaviour,” she said.
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Nicodemus said the matter was taken to the high court where Sace was requested to revise its Mandatory Sanctions Policy and include important elements in it, such as rehabilitative and corrective sanctions (like anger management and training in non-violent forms of discipline).
She said that Sace should have considered that the teachers needed to undergo rehabilitation or retraining to address their violent behaviour.
"While it is important to ensure discipline in the classroom, the law relating to the administering corporal punishment ban must be respected," she said.
At the same time, Nicodemus said Section27 also requested that the decisions against the two teachers be set aside and sent back to Sace for reconsideration. However, the high court only agreed that Sace's internal policy be changed which Section27 is appealing.
When Daily Sun approached Sace, its spokesman Risuna Nkuna said: "The matter has been brought to the Supreme Court of Appeal and will sit on Monday, 26 February in Bloemfontein. Therefore, we can't comment at this point."
