Kimberley -
A Roodepan teacher, who was allegedly tear-gassed in her classroom by two Grade 10 pupils on day, was late on Wednesday going to lay criminal charges after deciding to take a stand against the abuse of teachers in the classroom.
Pescodia High School teacher, Amanda Loots, said that she was sick and tired of teachers being too afraid to speak out about the appalling way they were treated by pupils, who seem to have absolutely no respect for the authority.
In an incident on Wednesday morning, Loots said she was rendered unconscious after two pupils allegedly released tear gas into her Grade 10 history class.
According to the teacher, seven learners have proven so disruptive in her class that the school’s deputy headmaster had ordered them out of her class last week.
Her alleged assailants are part of this group and the situation came to a head when they took their seats on Wednesday and refused to leave the classroom.
“This group of seven have caused endless trouble and have been so disruptive that it has been almost impossible to teach the rest of the class,” Loots said.
“When I chased them out again this morning, they got very defensive and threw the work of one of the girls on the ground when they walked out.”
Loots said that when they left the class, she turned her back to the door to continue giving her lesson.
“I heard one of the girls telling me to watch out and the next thing I knew they were spraying tear gas in the classroom. I suffer from asthma and my chest closed up immediately. My eyes were burning. The next thing I knew I was waking up in the headmistresses’ office where I regained consciousness.”
Loots was picked up from school by her husband and was examined by a doctor on Wednesday afternoon.
“The doctor told me that the injury to my lungs is similar to smoke inhalation. Everything burns. I know they used tear gas because some of the learners have told me previously that these boys have access to it.”
Loots later returned to Roodepan to lay charges against the two pupils at the police station.
While she said that the school was extremely apologetic and supportive, Loots decided that she couldn’t let the matter go because this was apparently only the most recent in a string of “shocking offences” allegedly committed by ill-disciplined pupils at the school.
“The headmistress was clearly upset about the ordeal and said she doesn’t want any of her staff to ever have to go through something like this,” said Loots.
“If something is not done about the behaviour of learners, then we are just going to have more problems. We have had cases where learners have stabbed each other and there are even sometimes fires started in the classrooms.
“I don’t care if I get into trouble for drawing attention to this incident. This sort of thing is happening far too often and it just gets swept under the carpet.”
The Northern Cape Department of Education spokesman, Sydney Stander, was approached for comment late Wednesday afternoon but had not commented by the time of going to press.
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