The child sustained a broken ankle.
Image: Supplied
A mother from Quarry Heights is seeking answers after her son was allegedly knocked by a teacher at Avoca Primary, resulting in a broken leg.
She alleged the school staff refused to take her son to the doctor or clinic and instead called her sister.
Londiwe Khuzwayo, 30, told the POST that her Grade 7 son was allegedly knocked by the teacher, outside the gates after school on Monday.
She claimed her son was walking on the pavement when he misbalanced.
Londiwe’s sister Nana Khuzwayo said she received a call from the school at around 2pm and a teacher had told her that her nephew was in an accident and he was knocked by a teacher, but it was “not bad”.
“The person on the phone said that the teacher who had knocked him just touched him with the vehicle and it was not bad, but the only problem was that my nephew was crying non-stop.
“I asked them to rush him to the nearest doctor but the teacher said that they could not do that as they were not his parents, and as per the protocol, only the parents could take the child to the doctor. They said the parent had to come to the school.
“I told them that I had no money to get transport to go to the school. I asked if they could take my nephew to the clinic and we could meet them there. They said they could not do that and that a parent or guardian needed to come to the school and accompany him to the clinic.
“I then had to make a plan to get medical care for my nephew so I asked the scholar transport provider to fetch him from the school, me from home and then take us both to the clinic,” added Nana.
She said the child had only received medical treatment more than an hour later.
She said the teacher who knocked the child had called her while they were on their way to the clinic.
“She told me that the accident was an honest mistake and that she did not see my nephew. She said she was sorry. I told her we were on our way to the clinic and she asked me to keep her updated.
“I contacted her to ask for her details which the clinic requested. She provided me with her registration number, full name, car type details and her driver’s licence details.
“She said she was going to report the case at the police station. She called again when we were at the clinic and we told her that we were still at the clinic.
“After that, there was no communication from her. The clinic staff told my sister to go to the police station to report the matter. The police said that the teacher needed to report the accident."
Londiwe said she had to take family responsibility leave to care for her son, who was in pain.
She said she went to the school on Tuesday as she had not received a call from the deputy principal or principal and she was concerned that her son was writing exams and would fail the term if he did not write the tests.
“The teacher said that she was scared to drive and did not go to the police station to report it. She said she would go on Tuesday after school. I was told that the principal was not at school.
“The deputy principal met with me and said that my son should stay at home until next term, and that they would assess him according to the tests and assignments he had done thus far.
“I explained to them that my daughter, who is in Grade 1 and witnessed the accident, was traumatised and afraid to attend school. They did not offer her any counselling, but said that the scholar transporter could drop her and fetch her from inside the school,” she added.
Londiwe said she was disappointed in the way the school had responded to the incident.
“I was unavailable. My sister begged them to take my son to the clinic or the doctor but they did not. Instead my child was left in pain. On Wednesday, we got the case number about two hours after we requested it from the teacher.
“The school did not call to find out how my child was. It was only because I went to the school on Tuesday that they met with me. I expected them to call me after our meeting to find out if my son was okay and if they were putting any extra safety plans in place for the children, but we were met with silence.
“Yesterday afternoon, a friend of my son’s came with his parents to see my child. That child said that teachers were saying it was a lie that my son was knocked and injured, and that he was faking that he was injured and the car did not run over him.
“The child said he did not believe the teachers as he had seen the accident and was concerned. This made me angry because the teachers are meant to protect our children when we are not around, but they are not accepting accountability and are instead trying to change the narrative of what happened. The school did not do due diligence when they handled the matter,” added Londiwe.
She said her son was sent for x-rays, which showed that his ankle was broken.
“Due to the swelling, he could not be fitted with a hard plaster. He has to go to hospital on Monday to be re-examined and if the swelling has subsided, they will put the hard plaster,” she added.
Mo Nagesar, a teacher and a head of department who was part of the school’s governing body, told the POST that the child “fell onto the car”.
He said: “It was a child being a child. He had his bag in reverse, and was walking backwards when he slipped over the curb and fell into the car. He does admit that he tripped and fell onto the car.
“When we called the mother’s sister, she said she would send transport to fetch the child. I waited with four other teachers and the school’s cleaner until the car arrived.
“We helped carry the child from the bench and put the child in the car. A teacher was in contact with the child’s parent throughout the evening.
“We are not trained. We knew first aid, and we left the child in a safe area until the transport got to the school.
“At no point did we refuse to help. As per the protocol, we have to phone the parents and ask what we must do in the case of an accident. The parents said they would send a driver. We did not call the ambulance because it is protocol for us to contact parents as the incident happened outside the school.
“Our last follow-up from the school with the parents was on Tuesday morning when she came to school,” Nagesar added.
He said he believed the school did due diligence.