A staggering 764 cases of misconduct against teachers were reported to the South African Council for Teachers (Sace) from April last year to March, compared to 443 in the previous financial year.
A shocking 248 of the 764 complaints lodged involved teachers inflicting corporal punishment on pupils or assaulting colleagues, while 191 concerned educators implicated in sexual misconduct, rape, indecent assault and the sexual assault of pupils.
Sace’s recently-released annual report for 2021/22 revealed that 41 cases of sexual misconduct were levelled against Gauteng teachers while 35 involved their KwaZulu-Natal counterparts, 29 Free State and 25 Western Cape.
The report also indicated that 127 complaints of unprofessional conduct for verbal abuse, victimisation, harassment, intimidation and humiliation were recorded nationally and another 75 for mismanagement, maladministration, fraud and theft.
Ten teachers were fingered for racist conduct towards pupils or other teachers, while another 44 were reported for improper conduct, including the use of improper language.
The report stated that “it is worrying that corporal punishment of learners still takes centre stage and seems to still lead the pack”.
It also pointed out that teachers assaulting, victimising and humiliating their colleagues were “worrying trends”.
“Council will be addressing this type of behaviour in its advocacy campaigns. This will be an effort to try to curb the occurrence of such unprofessional behaviour,” the report stated.
Between April and December last year, educators opened 24 cases of assault against their colleagues.
According to the report, a total of 253 investigations on new cases reported from April last year to March were conducted, as well as 147 cases from previous financial years.
The names of four teachers were removed indefinitely from the roll of educators — the harshest sanction meted out to teachers — after they were found guilty during disciplinary hearings.
Of the 86,467 applying for first-time registration, 59 had criminal records, including 24 for theft and shoplifting, eight for drinking and driving, seven for negligent driving, six for assault and five for possession of marijuana.
Indefinite removal implies that “such a teacher has no reasonable prospect of teaching children any more as they shall have lost their licence to teach indefinitely”.
“Some of the educators, whose names are removed from the register, end up with their names entered onto the register of people declared unfit to work with children.”
These include teachers who have committed serious offences, including sexual misconduct, rape, impregnating a pupil and sexual relations with pupils or seriously assaulting pupils.
The register is kept by the department of social development.
The names of a further two teachers were removed from the roll of educators for a specific period, while the removal of the names of another 10 teachers for a certain period was suspended.
A total of 162 cases that were reported between April last year and March were finalised.
The report stated that the council “operates under an adversarial system where accused educators attempt to evade responsibility for their actions”.
“In that light, educators do all that is in their power to avoid attending hearings for fear of losing their teaching licence.”
The report stated that the requirement of a police clearance certificate for registration and vetting of educators against the National Register of Sexual Offenders “ensures that only fit-to-teach educators are registered and admitted into the teaching profession”.
Of the 86,467 applying for first-time registration, 59 had criminal records, including 24 for theft and shoplifting, eight for drinking and driving, seven for negligent driving, six for assault and five for possession of marijuana.
Basil Manuel, executive director of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA (Naptosa), said: “One can’t say for certain there’s an increase in incidents.
“We have much better reporting systems in place and a much greater awareness on the part of parents that there are authorities that deal with this.”
“So I think the gap in the net where people can escape through is narrowing.”
We’ve been at pains to say to our people that under no circumstances can we defend the indefensible.
— Basil Manuel, Naptosa
Manuel said better reporting of incidents accounted for part of the increase.
“But it can’t account for everything that is related to the increase. We’ve been at pains to say to our people that under no circumstances can we defend the indefensible.”
He said that corporal punishment had been outlawed since 1996.
“A part of it is desperation on the part of teachers, simply because some of them just don’t know what to do and they lash out. However, it doesn’t make it less defensible.”
He said schools “were becoming more and more difficult places to be at and teach at”, adding: “If that is the case, then we going to see incidences increase because of desperation.”
Manuel said when it came to sexual misconduct, “deviancy is there in every walk of life”.
“A teacher is in a position of trust and a position of power over the pupils. We say to the people, ‘if you are found guilty of misconduct, we cut you loose because we can’t have you are bringing the name of teachers into disrepute’.”
He said that there was still “under-reporting” of cases of sexual misconduct against teachers “because we know that people get away with it”.
“They [teachers] rely on the ignorance of people, particularly in the non-urbanised areas. They rely on the fact that people are financially desperate and little bits of money are offered for so-called damages. People take it because they think it’s a way to survive and that makes it even more heartbreaking.”
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