Johannesburg - Bewildered pupils at a Johannesburg private Catholic school allegedly ran out of a school hall screaming and crying when a mother of one of their peers attacked them.
They tripped and fell as they tried to run out of the school and flee from the woman.
*Sindi, one of the mothers of the children allegedly hit by the woman, told the Daily News's sister newspaper, The Star that her daughter arrived home crying and relayed the story to her.
The beating is believed to have stemmed from a meeting the school held with parents of pupils in Grade 5 about their bad behaviour, which was spiralling out of control.
Some of the children known to be troublemakers were allegedly called on to the stage, and one of them was the enraged woman’s son.
The woman allegedly left the meeting, but returned to the school the next day. She is alleged to have asked all Grade 5 pupils to gather in the school hall as she wanted to speak to them about their behaviour.
When the children got there, she allegedly started hitting her son with “something that looked like a sjambok”, saying she wanted to embarrass him in from of his peers because at home his conduct was different from the bad behaviour the school had described.
In the midst of the beating, the boy managed to escape.
Then the woman went for other children in the hall, hitting them too. Sindi’s daughter was also hit.
The woman later sent a letter to the mothers of the children who were in the hall, apologising for her behaviour.
In the letter, which The Star has seen, the woman does not state that she hit the children but that she “scared them” when she hit her son in front them.
“I got emotional with all that was said by the principal. I then took it upon myself to scare my child in front of the other learners. I therefore apologise to the parents of Grade 5s and the learners that got scared because of my behaviour,” a portion of the letter says.
The Star spoke to the woman, who said she did not hit the children, and that she, the parents and the school had sorted out the issue and that “everyone was happy”.
The school said the matter was under investigation and would not comment. The Star, however, is aware that the principal has promised to deal with the matter when she returns, as she is away.
*Not her real name