Teacher filmed in WTF meltdown is ‘Mrs Awesome’‚ says former pupil

A former pupil of Jeppe High School for Boys has rallied to the defence of a former teacher shown in a video lashing out at a pupil and using offensive language‚ describing her as “Mrs Awesome” and a passionate educator.

In the video‚ which appears to be taken from a cellphone by one of the learners in the class‚ the teacher is seen screaming at a the pupil.

“God you are such an idiot‚ I have to say to you‚ stop your sh*t and work. Really‚ where is your book? Where are your notes? What the f*ck is it doing in your case. Oh shut up you idiot‚ you cannot talk back because you know you are guilty.”

The teacher then raises what looks like her middle finger and says: “This my finger. You can leave!”

• WATCH: SA teacher's WTF classroom meltdownA Jeppe Boys High School teacher has been filmed on video "losing it" with a pupil (warning: strong language). 

However‚ in her defence‚ a former learner at the school posted on Facebook and said the 30 second clip could derail the career of a wonderful woman who has given more than 30 years of her life to educating kids.

Bongani Kumbula said the 30 second video was not of the “Mrs. Awesome we knew”.

Below is the full post:

"So I woke up this morning to a video of my old high school Afrikaans teacher trending for an outburst she had while teaching.

"This 30 second clip could derail the career of a wonderful woman who has given more than 30 years of her life to educating kids. No context is given within the clip. What is missing is the amount of pressure and stress these kids put on educators to get them to reach breaking point. Trust me she was pushed‚ pushed into a corner where she was left with two choices. React the way she did‚ or break down and cry. Cry and admit defeat.

"And we‚ the young‚ ignorant and full of nonsense know exactly how to break a teacher. They all break‚ because we are little tsotsi's who sit and plot and find the cracks and buttons to push them over the edge.

• ‘Sometimes you need to be hardcore with these kids’ – SA reacts to teacher's video meltdownA Jeppe Boys High School teacher who was seen losing it with a pupil in a video has met mostly with sympathy from social media users. 

"This 30 second video clip that makes people feel entitled to judge and condemn dear Mrs. Awesome. That clip that excludes that she is a loving wife‚ a good mother to her offspring and an army of Jeppe boys. Let's say she has 5 classes from each grade‚ each averaging 30 students‚ that's 150 students a year. That's a minimum of 4500 students that have passed through her classroom over 30yrs.

"And we judge her over this 30 second clip. My class made her cry in my day's as a student. But she picked herself up‚ taught us and made sure we were best positioned to pass on to the next grade. She didn't hold it against us. Boys schools are inherently filled with testosterone and hormonal teenagers. It's warfare for teachers. It can be torture for female teachers. The older I get‚ the more guilty I feel for the kak I put them through. But they keep coming back for more. She is a passionate educator and shame on any system or person that tries to derail her career over a 30 second video.

"A 30 second video that starts rolling when she has already been pushed to boiling point. That started recording because the kids knew they had pushed her so far that they were going to get a reaction. The show was about to start. Lights‚ camera and action. Oh‚ but how biased is this video? Where are the cuttaways of the students tormenting and baiting her to behave like this? Where are the cuttaways of the 99% of the time when she is a good teacher‚ calm‚ colllected and caring? Where are the 30 second video clips of the 4500 students who will come out in her defence and tell you what an awesome teacher she is?

"This 30 second clip is not the Mrs. Awesome we know. This does not represent her. I am a little teary eyed thinking that the one time this beautiful woman gets her 15min of fame it's over this rubbish. That she is probably in bed depressed right now because of this. Not fair at all. I wish I could give her a hug. But what I will instead do is defend her memory as a proud former student. Let this story about her trend rather than that silly clip.

"To the kids in that class that did that to a good teacher‚ I ask them to look in the mirror and ask if they feel good?

"Is this what they wanted? What can they do to help the situation? What's done is done‚ but they can use this opportunity to let the world know that that video is not an accurate representation of Mrs. Awesome. They have the power to rectify this and get the truth out there.

"That's my two cents. 30 seconds does not a person make. Forti Nhil Difficlus and right now she needs brave old boys and students to come forward and support her."

- TMG Digital