Rape of pupils by teachers increases

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Published Oct 3, 2016

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Cape Town - The South African Council for Educators has reported an increase in sexual abuse and rape of pupils by teachers.

Ninety-seven pupils were sexually violated or raped by their teachers in the 2015/16 financial year. This is an increase from 82 pupils in 2014 to 94 in 2015.

In its annual report, the council also said 25 teachers had been fired for several misconduct charges - up from 15 teachers the previous year.

The council said. It had been forced to drop some cases because parents had refused to give evidence against the teachers allegedly involved. This was because the teachers had offered financial help to some of the pupils’ families.

A teacher in KwaZulu-Natal was arrested after a post on social media of him allegedly having sex with a pupil went viral. The teacher has been implicated in several other cases.

Four other teachers at the same school were suspended by the provincial Department of Education after pupils reported similar cases of rape and sexual abuse against them. One department official said this was the tip of the iceberg.

The Department of Basic Education said it was also concerned about the prevalence of pregnancy among pupils. Last year alone, 99 000 pupils across the country fell pregnant. In one school in Limpopo, about 20 pupils fell pregnant.

The council said that of the 97 cases of sexual abuse against teachers, most - 23 - were in the Western Cape, followed by 20 in Mpumalanga.

Gauteng was third with 13 cases, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 11, Free State with nine and Eastern Cape with six. In Limpopo, there were six cases of sexual abuse reported against teachers while in the North West there were three.

In Northern Cape, the council investigated only two cases of abuse against teachers.

This list of cases adds up to 93 rather than 97. The discrepancy has been raised, and an answer is awaited.

Cape Times

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