A six-year-old boy in Alexandria is petrified about returning to school on Tuesday, after he was allegedly slapped by his teacher at the end of last term – leaving him with a gash near his right eye that required five stitches.
The Grade 1 pupil was allegedly assaulted on June 13 by a 58-year-old teacher at the Island View Farm School on the farm, Grootvlei, in Alexandria.
Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said a case of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm was being investigated.
He said the teacher was out on a warning and was due to appear in court again next month.
The child’s mother, Veronica Quvana, 27, said her son was petrified of returning to school.
“At the school there is multigrade teaching, so his nineyear-old sister was in the class when it happened,” she said.
“She told me the teacher wrote a sentence on the board and the pupils had to copy it into their workbooks and fill in the missing words.“The teacher asked my son to bring his book to her desk, and she told him that the words were incorrect and got very angry.
“She then [allegedly] slapped him.
“He fell, hit his head on a desk and was left with a gash.”
Shortly after the alleged incident, Quvana reported the matter to Kouga DA councillor Diana Biggs.
Quvana is a domestic worker for Biggs at her dairy farm in Tsitsikamma.
Quvan’s two children live with her sister in Alexandria.
Biggs reported the matter to the police and DA MPL Edmund van Vuuren.
Van Vuuren subsequently asked education MEC Mandla Makupula about the number of cases of physical and sexual abuse of pupils by teachers.
Makupula replied that the department had received 18 cases since 2015, with eight teachers found guilty.
Two of them were dismissed for assault and corporal punishment.
In the remaining 10 cases, four teachers resigned and six cases were unresolved.
Education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said the department’s probe into the Alexandria incident was in the final stages.
“The outcome of the investigation will only be revealed upon completion,” he said.
“The department does not condone this behaviour, hence corporal punishment was abolished and such actions are classified as assault.”
Neither the Island View Farm School management nor the teacher could be reached for comment.