Pretoria - An 11-year-old boy is sporting a large bruise on his forearm from being bitten at school.
In the last three years, he has been pushed down the stairs, hit with a chalkboard duster on the fingers, hit with a tennis ball in the face numerous times and had his head bashed against the ground. Some of these actions were allegedly carried out by teachers in his school.
These are some of the allegations a Pretoria mother has levelled against pupils and teachers at her son’s school - Sunnyside Primary School.
“The school has failed me. As a parent it feels really terrible to feel like you can’t protect your child,” the mother said. Neither the mother, nor the child can be named to protect the identity of the boy.
The mother said the trouble began in 2013 when her son was in Grade 2.
“My son would come home every day complaining about headaches. One day I asked him why he always had headaches and he told me his teacher would throw a tennis ball at his face,” she said.
She said the teacher admitted to it and said she did it to get his attention.
“The principal made her apologise and that was that. No disciplinary action was taken against her.”
She said other teachers who would hit her child would also claim that they did it because he was not paying attention at school and would later apologise but no further action was taken.
She described another incident where she was called to the school, because her son had been hit by another learner.
His face, according to the mother, was swollen on the left side and his left eye was shut due to the injury.
“I took him to a Mediclinic nearby and when the doctor was speaking to him he realised that when they attacked my son, he passed out so he didn’t remember everything that happened.”
They then referred him to Louis Pasteur Private Hospital for CT scans which she said showed swelling and bruising.
In another incident, the boy was pushed down the stairs by another pupil during a fight over a pen.
The boy said he was being bullied mostly by other learners and when he retaliates he would get into trouble and not the person who instigated the fight.
He said he did not go to school very often because of what he goes through.
His mother said her son had missed in total about two months of school this year, but because he was a good student, his academics weren’t greatly affected.
“He always makes up fake illnesses when he doesn’t want to go to school and I used to spank him and force him to go to school, but in the last two years I have stopped. I don’t want to force him because I don’t want him to hate me for making him go to school where they do this to him.”
She said the school had done very little to sort out this bullying problem and it had forced her to take the matter to the police, but because the children are minors, they said they couldn't do anything to help her.
Oupa Bodibe, spokesman for the Gauteng Education Department, said the department would send officials to the school on Monday to start with a preliminary investigation.
“The outcome of this investigation will determine what steps should be taken by the department against those involved,” Bodibe said.
He said cases of bullying were acted on immediately and parents were informed of the incidents while the perpetrators went through a disciplinary process where appropriate sanction was recommended.
“The department strongly condemns any form of violence in schools. MEC Panyaza Lesufi has identified learner discipline as one of the priorities of the department. The MEC wants cases such as school- based violence, gangsterism, drug abuse, cyber bullying and other related serious misdemeanours to be expedited, as well as ensure that the department is proactive in identifying preventative strategies to eliminate these social ills from the school environment,” Bodibe said.
Pretoria News