Negligence in checking on staff endangers school pupils

Loopholes in vetting teachers and poor awareness of the legal checks that can be made regarding people working with children have allowed undesirables to slip through the cracks, experts say.

The warnings were made on the heels of reports that a 22-year-old former water polo coach and assistant boarding master at Parktown Boys' High School, in Johannesburg, is due in court tomorrow.

About 20 pupils at the school claim he sexually assaulted them or touched them "inappropriately".

SA Council of Educators spokesman Themba Ndhlovu said better co-ordination was needed in the system.

"For now, yes, there are loopholes. We are engaging the provincial heads of departments [on closing them]. Some cases are reported to the departments direct and not to us. In terms of the SA Council of Educators Act, reports of misconduct must be referred to us on finalisation of the case."

• Education dept 'kept in dark' about school sex abuse scandalThe Gauteng education department on Monday accused Parktown Boys' High officials of failing to report to them allegations that a staff member was suspected of sexually abusing 20 pupils.

In the past three years the council has received reports of 273 sexually related cases. It has difficulty in keeping track of cases because of unco-ordinated reporting channels.

"If, for example, Gauteng dismisses a teacher [the education department] must report it to us. If Gauteng does not report it to us, the teacher is only dismissed in Gauteng and rocks up in another province to teach," Ndhlovu said.

School governing bodies and education departments are responsible for vetting employees, but this can be onerous.

"There are actually two registers, which are governed by two different acts and managed by two different departments," said Luke Lamprecht, convener of the Johannesburg Child Advocacy Forum.

"You have the sex offenders' register of people who have been convicted of a sex crime. This register is governed by the Department of Justice and Correctional Services.

• Limits to offender registers preventing sex pests getting a job at schoolsScreening educators against South Africa's sex registers is cumbersome‚ impractical and costly‚ and is unlikely to even deliver the intended outcome‚ an expert says.

"If you are on this register you automatically end up on the child protection register."

A person can be put on the child protection register, managed by the Department of Social Development, for various types of misconduct. In both instances, application must be made to the government for access to the registers.

Under the Children's Act all people working with minors must be checked against the sexual offences and child protection registers.

Lamprecht said people are using police clearances as a broad screening tool but they are valid for only three months.

The child protection register offers more comprehensive screening. The application process sometimes takes months and many people are not aware of the legal obligation to use it, Lamprecht said.

Clinical and social worker Joan van Niekerk trains government teachers and says she always asks if they have been screened.

"Meeting one that has been screened is rare," she said.

People must agree to be screened.

"We need to start prosecuting people who do not screen new employees."

Van Niekerk said South Africa needed one register, not three, as is currently the case. A register is kept by the police and is checked when a police clearance is sought.

Teachers may be employed only if they are registered with the Council of Educators, which vets teachers. Other employees of schools, such as coaches, hostel managers and groundsmen, must be vetted by school governing bodies - without the benefit of the Council of Educators safety net.

"A good governing body will have a recruitment committee and hire private service providers that will trace a person. You can also take the name and ID number to a police station and they will assist you," said Federation of Governing Bodies of SA Schools deputy CEO Jaco Deacon.

School governing bodies must, by law, act in the best interests of the school, which means they are obliged to vet employees.

Gauteng education department spokesman Oupa Bodibe said that in the Parktown Boys' High case it was clear that the alleged victims were terrified of the accused coach.

Department officials visited the school yesterday.

"Schools must always report such cases to the department, even if they have dealt with it themselves, because it has the potential for reputational harm to the school and the department."

The Council of Educators wants provincial departments to report cases to it before their finalisation, as is required by law.

"Finalisation can take years and sometimes victims no longer want to testify. In these cases we will never know [of the complaint]."

The council is finalising amendments to the SA Council of Educators Act.

Currently the act prohibits it from making public the names of people struck off the teachers' roll.