Sexual predators at schools ‘know no class distinctions’

Although “well-off” middle-class schools are usually at the forefront of the battle against sexual predators in the public, experts argue that sexual offences and predators in schools occur across the board, even in less empowered communities where pupils are not encouraged to speak out.

The Gauteng Education Department on Wednesday publicly acknowledged the sexual assault allegations made against a teacher from Bryanston High School in Johannesburg, a former model-C school.

Spokesperson Steve Mabona confirmed the teacher had been suspended and that they had dispatched the psycho-social unit to the school “for necessary support and counselling to all affected pupils”.

Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) attorney Precillar Moyo said although the incident was unfortunate, their organisation dealt with sexual assault cases across the board, regardless of class, and sexual offences were not limited to only middle-class schools.

Gender researcher Lisa Vetten echoed those sentiments and said there was a bias where more attention was given to the middle-class schools because they were more “interested in scandal”.

She said some schools were ill-equipped to deal with such matters because teachers were not trained well enough to know how to deal with children who approached them. In some cases, children reported matters to teachers who avoided calling the police and preferred to handle the case personally.

She said the quality of response by the teacher was important and sometimes this was where some schools differed from others.

“People underestimate the importance of life orientation lessons and sometimes regard [them] as a lesson to catch up on homework for other subjects. It … teaches children how to act in such situations,” Vetten said.

Moyo said there were regulations set out by the education department and teachers were mandated by law to intervene when they suspected anything or were told anything by their pupils.

Teachers were obligated to do something and were protected by the law if there was any confusion or misjudgments in their actions to protect the child.

“We feel that such behaviour is unacceptable. Children are supposed to feel safe in schools but it is unfortunate that they are subject to sexual abuse and inappropriate behaviour by their educators.

“To help educate children on how to deal with this should be a joint effort by, not only their educators, but by the family and community, who should take on the attitude of protecting children so they feel empowered and confident enough to report a matter and know that they will be believed,” said Moyo.

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