As corporal punishment remains an issue at some schools across South Africa, the country’s courts continue to ensure that children are protected and that teachers who assault learners are punished.
One of the victories in the issue of corporal punishment took place at the Supreme court of Appeal (SCA) where it ruled that the South African Council of Educators (SACE) needs to implement harsher punishment for the educators who assaulted learners in two separate incidents.
In that, the SCA set aside the sanctions imposed by the SACE on the two teachers, saying the council needs to reconsider its decisions in line with the best interest of the children.
The two unrelated cases involve the assault of a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old.
In 2015, a Gauteng learner in grade 2 was hit on the back of his head with a PVC pipe by his teacher.
While in 2019 in Limpopo, a 10-year-old girl in Grade 5 was hit by a teacher on her cheek and then on her head, she then experienced a lasting bleed from her ears which required her to visit several doctors, resulting in her absenteeism, from school and her repeating her grade.
In September 2019, both teachers pleaded guilty at a hearing with SACE and were subsequently fined R15,000 each, of which R5000 was suspended.
SACE’s sanction also included striking the names of both teachers off the educator’s roll, which was also suspended for 10 years.
The SCA says SACE must, in issues concerning violence, consider the best interests of the child and whether the teachers require rehabilitation.
The SCA judgment establishes and confirms:
- The need to effectively enforce the corporal punishment ban as a central tenet of South African society;
- The importance of section 28(2) of the Constitution, which mandates that the best interest of the child be of paramount importance in proceedings affecting children; and
- Well-established principles of administrative law that all government departments must adhere to.
Section27 and the Centre for Child Law (CCL) have welcomed the judgment.
In a statement, Section27 said the SCA’s judgment marks a great victory for CCL and the two families and highlights the need for institutions, like SACE, to make greater and more deliberate efforts to effectively prevent the scourge of corporal punishment in schools.
The department of Basic Education’s Elijah Mhlanga says corporal punishment and issues of learner discipline keep getting reported to SACE.
“Teachers are still getting involved in these matters which are SACE’s responsibility to investigate, finalise and ensure that teachers are reminded of their responsibilities in terms of the code of ethics which they have signed saying they’d abide by and adhere to,” added Mhlanga.
Section27 says the appropriate sanctioning of educators is key to enforcing the ban on corporal punishment and it is expected that SACE will implement a revised sanctioning policy without delay.