Outrage as principal forces boy to tour school naked as punishment

06 October 2016 - 15:33

By Sino Majangaza

A child of 10 is traumatised after the principal at his Dimbaza school in the Eastern Cape allegedly forced him to walk around the building naked as punishment.

“I was stripped naked and forced to walk from one classroom to another.

“I was crying. I felt embarrassed and hid my private parts with my hands‚” said the Masikhanyise Primary School pupil.

The boy‚ from Pirie location‚ spoke this week about the incident‚ which took place at his school last month.

Acting on the instructions of their school principal‚ a group of Grade 7 boys had grabbed the defenceless boy‚ stripped him naked and forced him to do a door-to-door parade at his school‚ starting from Grade R to Grade 7.

The 30-minute ordeal happened a day after he allegedly dangled a fellow pupil over a bridge.

For this alleged transgression he was punished and humiliated.

“I was in class when I was told that the principal wanted to see me. She asked if the accusations were true. I told her we were just playing and I did not even lift her‚ I just pushed her a little. She said I was not telling the truth and she called older boys to strip me naked‚” he said.

The boy said as he was hiding his private parts with his hands‚ the school principal ordered other pupils to stop him from doing so.

“I then started crying. They dragged me … I was humiliated‚” he said.

Children’s rights organisations have strongly condemned the principal’s actions.