Lesufi commends Three Rivers teacher accosted by pupil

Panyaza Lesufi‚ MEC of education in Gauteng‚ on Monday visited the Three Rivers school in the Vaal where a teacher had a book thrown at her by a pupil.

He told a news conference the pupil's parents had met with him and that he had also met the teachers and other school roleplayers. Psycho-social support had since Friday been made available to learners in that class and the teacher‚ he said. He was pleased that learning was taking place as normal at the school while the matter was dealt with.

While he did not want to pre-judge the investigation that is under way‚ Lesufi said that during their brief meeting‚ he was impressed by the teacher's professionalism.

He found her to be "a very shy person" who is "committed to the profession".

Lesufi said proper channels should be followed within the education department‚ in cases of dispute. "Everyone must be within their lanes‚" he said‚ adding this applied to educators‚ learners and school management.

He assured all educators that "they are in charge of the classroom".

"If you do something right‚ we will cover your back‚ as the department...

"We believe the teacher behaved very well under extreme provocation."

Lesufi said he had a full session with the parents‚ personally‚ in the presence of the learner. They told him they felt she had been provoked.

Social media was not overly receptive to the assertion that she may have overreacted due to test pressure.

"Don't put this lame excuse here....a lot of her classmates had pressure too‚ they didn't hit the teacher with books...," commented Mosito‏ @Mosito987 while Nomonde de Bruyn said "Overreacted? That was plain rude towards the teacher‚ she need to be disciplined".