Union condemns teacher attack by pupil

The SA Teachers’ Union (SAOU) has condemned a reported attack on a Johannesburg primary school teacher by a pupil. 

“There is no excuse ever, for lifting a hand against a woman,” SAOU Gauteng chairman Carel Cronje said in a statement on Wednesday.  

“What we are seeing in this latest incident of a 14-year-old boy punching a woman teacher in the face, in a classroom situation, is symptomatic of the growing violence against women and children that appears to be getting steadily worse in our South African society.”  It was reported on Wednesday that the pupil was arrested after the assault. 

The schoolboy allegedly punched Zascia Hakkesteeg, 41, at Jim Fouche Primary School, Brixton, on Tuesday, after she asked him to remove a jersey which was not part of the school uniform.

The police were called and he was taken to the Brixton police station, where a charge of assault was laid.

Gauteng education department spokesman Gershwin Chuenyane said in the report the boy had been suspended for seven days, pending a formal disciplinary hearing.

Cronje said the SAOU had discussed the assault with “all the roleplayers”.

“To simply suspend the perpetrator of violence in such cases is not getting to the root cause of such behaviour, nor is it any guarantee that the actions will not be repeated,” Cronje said. 

“The learner concerned has a history of challenging behaviour and it is time that schools and education authorities address this growing societal sickness effectively.”