Teacher accused of stabbing pupil
A teacher has been removed from a high school in Katlehong after allegedly stabbing a matric pupil in the chest.
|||Johannesburg - Just a week after Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi lamented the low levels of discipline in schools, a teacher has been accused of stabbing a matric pupil.
The teacher at Lethukuthula Secondary School in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni, allegedly stabbed the pupil in the chest last Friday, and the school rushed him to a clinic for treatment.
“The victim sustained a minor injury to his chest as a result of the stabbing. He is back at the school writing his preliminary exam. The district is providing counselling for the victim,” said department spokesman Oupa Bodibe.
He said the teacher had been removed from the school and ordered to report to the district office while investigations into the attack were being conducted.
The department is investigating the circumstances that led to the stabbing.
Last week, Lesufi said the department was worried about ill-discipline in schools - from both teachers and pupils.
He said that between April and last month, 45 officials had been dismissed for charges including financial mismanagement, absconding and sexual misconduct.
He said the department had tightened policies around disciplining teachers, and cases relating to sexual misconduct and violence were being fast-tracked to ensure better accountability.
The Lethukuthula stabbing comes on the heels of a viral video shot at Marlboro Gardens Secondary School showing a teacher threatening to stab a pupil with an Okapi knife. The now suspended teacher can be seen screaming at a male pupil. The teacher then slaps him twice and threatens to stab him.
But teachers are not the only ones misbehaving at schools. At PT Xulu Secondary School in Vosloorus, pupils ganged up against the principal, who had called them out for being late. The principal had locked the gates.
The pupils devised a plan to fill buckets with water and throw the water at the principal every time he came to inform them that they were late. Three pupils have been suspended.
tebogo.monama@inl.co.za
The Star