Mom claims teachers beat her son
975 05-06-2013 Two teachers from Palmridge combine school assaulted a miner child with the pipe across his back on separate occasion at the school. Picture: Tiro Ramatlhatse 975 05-06-2013 Two teachers from Palmridge combine school assaulted a miner child with the pipe across his back on separate occasion at the school. Picture: Tiro Ramatlhatse
Johannesburg - Sorisha Patel* is not sure how many times her seven-year-old son has been hit by his teachers at Palmridge Combined School in Katlehong.
She is aware of two occasions this happened: in April and on Tuesday.
In April, Samir*, a seven-year-old Grade 1 pupil, had told her that his teacher hit him on his back with a pipe. He told his mother that he cried because it was painful.
Patel said that when looked at where her son said he was hit, she saw a red mark across his back that was turning blue.
“I immediately went to the police station to open a docket. I was given a form to fill in by a doctor, and this was done at Natalspruit Hospital,” Patel said.
Edenpark police station confirmed that a case of common assault was opened.
Patel said that when she went to the school the following morning, the teacher admitted in front of another teacher that she had hit Samir “in a fit of anger” because he had taken another pupil’s scissors.
“I was very cross when she said that. Who knows what she’ll do to my child the next time she’s in a ‘fit of anger’?”
Patel said a head of department at the school apologised over the incident and asked her to withdraw the case.
“I will not drop the case because another parent has advised me that this was not the first time the teacher has hit my son with this pipe. She has a son in the same class as my son, and he told her time and again that the teacher hits Samir,” she said.
Patel said she wrote to the principal as well as the district office, asking them to investigate the matter, but she has had no feedback.
This week, her son told her that another teacher had hit him, also on the back, because he scribbled something on the floor with a crayon.
Patel went to the school and a teacher told her that the head of department wasn’t at the school, so there was nothing she could do.
“I don’t know what to do any more. I’m worried about my son’s safety… He’s terrified to go to school,” she said.
Gauteng Department of Education spokesman Charles Phahlane said the department would investigate the matter.
“Corporal punishment is outlawed at schools. We wish to remind educators that they will face disciplinary action if they continue to administer corporal punishment,” he said.
*Not their real names
The Star