Your highest marks: Teacher found with drugs at school

Unhappy parents staged a protest at a school in Ekurhuleni on Wednesday after a teacher was allegedly caught with drugs and days passed before the the school reported the incident to the Gauteng Department of Education.

The province’s Education MEC Matome Chiloane said he is deeply concerned about the incident at Thoko Thaba Secondary School in the township of Tokoza.

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“We… vehemently condemn such conduct and we will be acting against it accordingly. We also plead with the community to allow this matter to be handled by the Department and relevant law enforcement authorities for appropriate resolution,” he said.

The department explained in a statement that the teacher was found last week with a bag and box of drugs inside the school premises.

Police were called and he was arrested. He appeared in court on Thursday, 15 February.

The department has also launched an investigation.

‘Still trust schools’

This comes a month after Chiloane told parents they can trust township schools.

“What we are saying to parents, especially in Gauteng, is to say we are working on our schools and some of the schools that they are fearing, these are some of the top performing schools, especially high schools,” the MEC said when schools opened.

“Currently our top performing high schools are in townships. The best performing high schools are in townships of late. So, that shows we have done a lot to change the landscape of our province.”

He said many lawyers, doctors, ministers and even presidents come from township schools.

“We have all these people who are changing the landscape of our society coming from the very same townships.”

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Additional reporting by: Faizel Patel.