Two KwaZulu-Natal school teachers are in hot water with the provincial education department after video clips of pupils being lashed surfaced over the weekend.
The schools are yet to be positively identified. The KZN education department is investigating and has promised to act swiftly against the teachers involved.
Corporal punishment at South African schools is illegal and is a dismissable offence.
In two separate video clips that surfaced late on Saturday night, pupils are seen being lashed with an object.
One student is lashed several times in the hand by a male teacher, while in another video, a schoolgirl and a schoolboy are violently lashed by a female teacher on their backs.
The female teacher appears to be laughing during the violent act, while the pupils appear in pain as their classmates laugh in the background.
In both incidents, the footage appears to be taken discreetly by pupils in class.
Education MEC Mthandeni Dlungwane’s spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa said the department was concerned that teachers continued to “dish out” corporal punishment despite it being banned three years into democracy, in 1997.
“Children have the right to be free from all forms of violence, to enjoy their education, and not to be treated or punished in a cruel, inhumane, and degrading way.
“There is a video clip that has gone viral on social networks that clearly shows a learner being beaten up by what looks like a teacher in a classroom.
“Unconfirmed reports suggests that the video clip was filmed in one of the schools in KwaZulu-Natal, therefore as the Department of Education we are working around the clock to identify the school,” said Mthethwa.
The department called on pupils to report violent incidents to their parents or principals.
“The principal should report such incidents to the department of education, so that the department can institute disciplinary proceedings against the perpetrator.
“If the principal does not investigate the matter further, learners or their parents can report the incident themselves to the Department of Education’s District Office,” he said.