Durban - Advocacy bodies, including teachers’ unions and a national school governing bodies’ organisation, have called for better monitoring mechanisms in schools after revelations that corporal punishment is still widely practised in South Africa.
A Statistics SA report on Children Exposed to Maltreatment, which was released this week, showed that of the million children who experienced violence at school in 2019, close to 84% experienced corporal punishment by teachers, followed by verbal abuse (13.7%).
The report further indicated that about six in 10 children who experienced corporal punishment by teachers at school in 2019 lived in rural areas, but seven in 10 children who experienced physical violence by teachers in 2019 were residents of urban areas. The report made a distinction between corporal punishment and other types of violence at the hands of teachers.
According to the report, in 2019 KwaZulu-Natal had the highest percentage of children who experienced violence (including incidents involving other pupils) at school (35.1%), followed by the Eastern Cape (18.1%), Gauteng (11.8%) and North West (10.2%).
KZN has the second largest population of children, behind Gauteng.
Nationally, the report showed that the percentage of pupils who reportedly experienced violence at school dropped from 18.6% in 2009 to 8.2% in 2019.
While the overall trend showed a decline, very few provinces showed a clear drop in patterns of violence.
National African Teachers’ Union (Natu) president Sibusiso Malinga described the report as shocking.
“Corporal punishment, just like apartheid, was abolished long ago. Teachers have been discouraged to administer it and it is something that we preach in all our meetings,” he said.
However, he added that there needed to be discussions and policies put in place to deal with pupils who had behavioural problems. He also challenged parents to see to it that children behaved appropriately in school.
“It is so unfortunate that teachers are blamed while parents are spared – education and respect begin at home.”
Thirona Moodley, the KZN CEO of National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa), called for a more efficient monitoring mechanism, and tough sanctions.
“It is shocking that at this time we are still finding cases of corporal punishment on pupils by teachers. So far down the line, teachers should know the rights of pupils, and the fact that they could be dismissed for inflicting corporal punishment,” said Moodley.
She called for such incidents to be reported to the authorities, such as the South African Council of Educators, so that the teachers could face the consequences of their actions.
National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) secretary-general Matakanye Matakanya said while he had not seen the report, he was disappointed with its contents as it showed gaps within the education system.
“The report illustrates that monitoring systems are not functioning, and the department ought to take responsibility for this because it is the teachers and principals who are employed by the department who are doing this,” he said.
He also urged school governing bodies across the country to play their role and seek regular reports from school principals on whether there had been any cases of corporal punishment, adding that such a proactive stance would ensure that the incidents were eradicated within the schooling system.
University of KwaZulu-Natal academic Dr Nontobeko Buthelezi said while the report was unfortunate, it reflected the country’s daily struggles with violence and the lack of proper tools for dealing with the challenges facing the education system.
She added that the report also pointed to the lack of a value system within children’s families.
“This is about what children are taught at their homes early in their lives. It is about whether they are taught about actions and consequences for them, what is it that they learn from the neighbourhood because behaviour is learned,” said the UKZN academic.
She cautioned against the labelling of teachers as violent.
“We are unhappy with teachers because they are an endpoint to this, but the fact is, teachers are not from another planet, but reside within our communities. Questions should be posed on the sufficiency of support systems within the education system, and the provision of counsellors within the schooling system should be questioned as well.”