A matric pupil from Limpopo who was brutally assaulted, allegedly by her teacher, during her exams in November, was elated this week when she discovered she had achieved a bachelor's pass.
The 20-year-old St Peters Combined Christian School pupil made headlines when images of her bruised back emerged on November 12.
Police said she had been beaten with a belt and shoe while studying for the exams in her room at the school's hostel.
“I was nervous about getting my results, but I'm really happy,” the woman told the Sunday Times.
“I didn't think I would achieve a bachelor's [pass] after everything that happened while I was writing exams.”
Her subjects were geography, business, economics, maths literacy, Sepedi home language, English first additional language and life orientation.
The school confirmed the incident, saying the pupil was apparently assaulted for being late for a church service.
Samuel Matibidi, 29, appeared in the Sekhukhune magistrate's court shortly after the incident, charged with assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He was released on bail.
He was suspended from the school and resigned shortly after, the Limpopo education department confirmed.
While the matriculant did not want to delve into what happened, she said it had been a struggle to push through and concentrate on her remaining exams.
She was due to write business the day after the assault and said while it was “difficult to focus on the exam” due to the pain in her back, which made sitting uncomfortable, she managed to get through it.
She has since made a full recovery.
She said she had had a good teacher-pupil relationship with Matibidi and the assault had come as a shock. Matibidi was her maths literacy teacher.
She said she was hoping to study teaching at the University of Limpopo.
While she doesn't wish to relive her ordeal, she said it had taught her an invaluable lesson about facing challenges.
“It taught me that in life you'll come across many challenges and you just have to face them as they come along,” she said.
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