A PARENT, Precious Golden, wants George Khosa High School to be held accountable after her son was beaten up by schoolmates during a chaotic incident that erupted on the school premises.
The chaos erupted last month when a group of armed boys terrorised learners and teachers with dangerous weapons.
This was after a group of four unknown boys arrived with dangerous weapons such as guns, pangas and knives and forced open the gates at the school and made for the classrooms where some of the learners had hidden under tables.
Shortly after the group left the school, a scuffle broke out when some of the learners attacked Golden’s son claiming that he was related to the gang.
He was beaten up and another learner was stabbed twice in the back.
Golden said the school must take full responsibility for the attack, adding that one of the teachers allegedly sent the learners to beat her son.
“He is the reason my son was beaten. I even opened a case against the teacher and the school. This is painful because my son is in Grade 8 and these boys are older than him,” said Golden.
She added: “They beat him because they saw him greeting members of that gang. And some of the learners have seen this happening.”
Asked to confirm or deny the allegations, the school’s deputy principal, Malcolm Mogau, did not respond.
However, two pupils at the schools have confirmed the allegations.
One of the pupils said: “I saw the teacher grabbing and showing him to other learners. But I don’t know what exactly happened. But I saw some learners beating him after all.”
Another pupil confirmed the incident: “What I saw was that the teacher grabbed him and said ‘this is him’, and that is when other learners started beating him.”
Gauteng Department of Education spokesperson Steve Mabona also confirmed the incident and said it would be investigated.
“Information at our disposal reveals that a group of armed males forcefully entered the school through the front gates and proceeded to a few classrooms, creating chaos.
“The reason for the breach of security and the incidents thereafter will be investigated to establish facts,” said Mabona.
“Consequently, the perpetrators left the school and the staff attempted to get the learners back into the school to protect them. However, there was an altercation between some of the learners as they were returning to the school premises which led to one learner being stabbed and another was beaten up.
“The learners’ parents were contacted and requested to come to school and the said learners were taken to the nearest clinic for medical attention and were discharged on the same day, ” Mabona added.
He said the department‘s pyscho-social support team was dispatched to the school to provide the necessary support. He said the learners and staff had been addressed accordingly.
“As the department we continue to strongly condemn any acts of misconduct by anyone which seeks to undermine the dignity of our learning institutions.
“We urge all stakeholders not to disrupt schooling as lost contact time is not easily recovered.
“Learners must also refrain from acts of misconduct in schools and we implore parents to assist the department in instilling learner discipline in and outside the school environment.
“We will continue to monitor the situation,” Mabona added.
Gauteng police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi confirmed that a case of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm had been opened for further investigation. Nevhuhulwi said no suspect had been arrested so far.