Durban - The father of a suicidal schoolgirl who failed Grade 11 has appealed to the Durban High Court to compel the school to promote her to matric, saying the school - on her reports - only ever demanded outstanding fees instead of letting him know she was in academic trouble.
The father - who cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughter, who turns 17 next month - also wants an order directing the Education Department to investigate the management of the school, situated in the Highway area, claiming another Grade 11 pupil committed suicide and a Grade 10 pupil was admitted to hospital after attempting suicide because they failed their grades.
But the school and the Education Department - represented in court by a posse of officials, including the principal - are strongly resisting the urgent application, claiming the mother knew full well that her daughter was “dismally underperforming”.
In his affidavit, which came before Judge Kate Pillay on Wednesday, the dad said the family were shocked when they received the report saying she had not passed, “because we were never alerted to the fact that she was experiencing any difficulties”, as they believed would happen, especially if a pupil was facing failing a year.
He said the school and the governing body had a policy which dictated that all reports - which had to be signed by parents - had to indicate problem areas and measures to deal with them.
If the problem persisted, parents would be called in for discussions.
“None of this was done. The problems were brought to our attention too late, after a decision had been taken not to promote her.”
He said this was when they received her last report early last month. At a hastily convened informal meeting, the life orientation teacher said he was “shocked” by the result and claimed he had been unaware that she was struggling.
The father said the previous, third-term report had only been received after she had begun writing her final exams. It showed she had passed six of seven subjects - albeit three of them “borderline” - which represented an overall pass.
In the space for “message to parent” was “kindly settle all outstanding school fees” and “school fees for 2016 set at R2 300”.
A line for “additional comments” was left blank.
“There was clearly no thought put into it,” the father said.
“The final report, which stipulates for the first time the promotion requirements, clinically advises that she is not being promoted.
“It appears no one was concerned about this devastating report, it resembles a mechanical printout of a standard format report. No one made an effort to discuss this with us. It is not signed. No progress meetings have been scheduled.”
The final report - which was apparently drawn up before the completion of the end-of-year exams - showed that the pupil passed only two subjects and had failed.
The father has put up a document from the Education Department which details the suicide and attempted suicides, as had been reported to it. It notes the death of the other Grade 11 pupil had been confirmed by the parents.
He said his appeals to Education Department officials to intervene in the matter went unheeded and all just referred him back to the school and the principal, whom he accuses of “sitting back collecting school fees”.
“This cannot be the expected norm, nor does it comply with our constitutional rights,” he said.
In argument, advocate Ryan Naidu, for the respondents, said while the issue was “emotive”, the pupil had “scored miserably” and her mother had been aware of her academic problems.
“She cannot just be promoted … the ramifications would be monumental considering that she was clearly out of her depth and did not cope in Grade 11,” he said.
Naidu was unable to explain why there had been no comments on the third-term report card, suggesting there had been verbal communication between the mother and the school.
Judge Pillay said she had never seen such reports before, “which only talk about school fees and offer no guidance and suggestions regarding marks”.
“I want to do justice for this child, but this is a huge conundrum because objectively she failed,” she said.
Advocate Ursula Lennard, for the father, said the school had shown an “indifferent, dismissive attitude” and suggested that 15 other Grade 11 pupils at the school who had also failed had been promoted.
This was denied by Naidu.
The matter was adjourned to allow the respondents to file affidavits, and an urgent date will then be set for argument.
The Mercury