A North West parent will appear in court this week after allegedly confronting and hitting a teacher, knocking her to the ground last week.
The mother is due to appear in court on Thursday over the June 14 incident, police spokesperson Colonel Adele Myburgh said. The teacher did not sustain a serious injury.
In a 30-second video that went viral, the 53-year-old teacher, who has 10 years’ experience, is seen standing in the doorway of a classroom trying to speak to the parent, who can be heard speaking in Setswana while pointing her finger. The aggrieved mother thought her children, who are in grades 4 and R, had been turned away for being late.
North West education department spokesperson Elias Malindi said an investigation showed that the children had not turned up at Phera Primary School in Tsetse village, near Mahikeng, that day.
“The teacher, who has more than 10 years’ teaching experience, was allegedly assaulted by a mother who has two children, in Grade 4 and R, at the school. It is alleged the parent complained about why the teacher turned back her children for arriving late,” said Malindi.
“Upon investigation, the department found the two pupils never arrived at school as their names did not appear on the register on the day.”
North West Education MEC Mmaphefo Matsemela condemned the incident, saying: ’’On behalf of the department, I would like to strongly condemn the alleged incident against one of our teachers.
’’I am perturbed by the incident and the actions of this specific parent. Our teachers are beacons of hope and should be treated as such for their huge revolutionary role they play in educating our society.
“As a department, we plead with parents to protect teachers and not to cause any harm on them. Teachers should be treated as a scarce commodity which needs to be protected by the entire society,” said Matsemela.
The department sent a team of psychologists to offer counselling for teachers and pupils at the school.
IOL
Credit IOL