No laughing matter

Published Mar 3, 2016

Share

A PARENT has claimed that a school teacher repeatedly slapped and punched his son for failing to laugh at a crude joke he had made.

According to the father, his 14-year-old son, a Grade 9 pupil at the school south of Durban, arrived home in pain and tears after the alleged incident two weeks ago.

The father has opened a case of common assault against the teacher and reported the incident to a social worker with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education.

POST is not naming the parties to protect the minor child.

The father said that during a lesson, the teacher had made a joke, to which his son responded by saying “ha ha” instead of laughing like most of the other children.

“The teacher then told my son he would see him after school. After the lesson, the class was dismissed but (my son) remained behind as instructed. The teacher then pushed the door but it did not close fully.

“My son approached the teacher, as he thought he wanted to speak to him. He instead slapped my son so hard that he hit his head against the blackboard. He was then punched in the stomach and repeatedly slapped across either side of his face. The teacher told him to ‘laugh now’.”

During the alleged incident, a few pupils gathered outside the classroom and were laughing, he said, adding that a teacher approached and peered through the door but then closed it and demanded the pupils go home.

The father said his son’s teacher then allegedly said he was not afraid even if the pupil's mother, father or brother were told what had happened.

“The teacher gave my son an ultimatum: he could either write a sincere letter of apology, or he threatened to come to our home to visit, and he took our contact details. I think he wanted to make my son scared and assumed he would choose the former punishment until (my son) told him he was welcome to come to our home.”

The father said his son arrived at their house that day in pain and was crying.

“He had a scratch on his neck from the assault and his face was swollen. When my wife saw him, she panicked because she thought he was assaulted while on his way home from school. She called me and while I was heading home, she contacted me again and told me he was assaulted by a teacher.”

The father said he went straight to the school but by then the principal had left.

“A teacher tried to call him but there was no response, so she called the head of department. I told him what had happened and he said my son should be taken to the doctor and that I should come to school the following morning to speak to the principal.”

His son was taken to the doctor, and he went to the school the next day, but the principal was at a departmental meeting.

“When I told the HOD that I reported the incident to the police, he said there was nothing the school could now do and the incident would be investigated by them.”

“The principal, whom I later met, said they would change my son's class, so he did not have to attend lessons with that teacher, but my son wanted to know why he should change his class when he had not done anything wrong.”

The spokesman for the KZN Department of Education, Muzi Mahlambi, said he was not aware of the incident. “But any punishment of any kind is a no-no, whether it is a slap, a kick, or a caning. We will follow up on this." The principal did not respond to POST by the time of going to press.

Related Topics: