School of hard knocks
The teacher who failed to intervene while a pupil was bullied in his class has twice been suspended on assault charges, Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said at a press briefing at Krugerlaan School in Vereeniging yesterday. A video of Friday's incident shows the teacher going about his work while a pupil is slapped around by another classmate.The Grade 12 teacher was yesterday charged and suspended for the alleged assault of a Krugerlaan pupil on May 20. He was also suspended and fined R6000 for an assault on a different pupil at the same school in August last year.Lesufi, who met families of the victim and the bully yesterday, gave the disciplinary committee before the end of June to complete its investigation into the incident. The victim's family has opened a case with the police and hired a lawyer .Lesufi described the meeting with the two families as "difficult" and added that other parents at the school had informed him of similar incidents.He said: "We do not condone any form of bullying and we will act decisively to assist the school in the disciplinary processes."Nelmarie Ruysch said she removed her son from the school when he was 15 after he endured two years of bullying.She claimed the then-principal of the school called her son a "sissy" after she complained.She added that no action was taken against those pupils who had persecuted her son.Ruysch said that the bullying caused her son great emotional distress, and he became withdrawn and far less cheerful.Her son is now 20 years old.She said: "I get angry at myself now that I didn't take those complaints further because it would have prevented another child from being hurt."Ruysch's son told her he identified with the victim in the video as he went through the same thing when he was at the school.The Gauteng education department recorded seven cases of bullying at schools in the 2014/2015 financial year, 61 cases of teachers assaulting pupils, and 54 incidents of pupil-on-pupil assault.It also reported that 17 pupils were stabbed by other pupils during the same period...
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