‘Irresponsible and reckless’: Teacher sent entire class home after her sweet went missing

An Eastern Cape high school teacher has landed herself in hot water after sending an entire class home and suspending the pupils for theft after her lollipop disappeared from her desk.

The teacher from Mbekweni High School outside Komani, formerly Queenstown, is now under investigation.

The Eastern Cape Education Department learnt about the incident a day after angry parents stormed the school and demanded answers from the principal.

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Outraged parents want the teacher suspended for punishing the pupils over the “frivolous” charge.

Departmental spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima confirmed the incident happened this week and the pupils have since returned to school.

The department would not provide any more details into the incident.

“As the department we want to close this chapter, hence we have sent a team to the school to investigate the matter. Disciplinary processes will follow if it is found the teacher committed the offence.”

He said the department wants to deal with this matter quickly to ensure no child gets left behind in the classroom.

Khula Community Development Project – a group protecting rights of pupils – is calling for the immediate suspension of the teacher.

KCDP director Petros Majola said: “She must be suspended immediately as it seems she is not fit to teach. We will talk to the education department to discuss this matter. The principal, who is the accounting officer, must also explain how this happened under their watch.”

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Majola added that counselling should also be recommended for the teacher to establish underlying causes for her decision making.

“It might occur that she is going through a lot back at home and the environment with pupils is not good for her at the moment,” Majola said.

The National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) has slammed the reason for the suspension of the pupils as “frivolous”.

“That is frivolous. It’s irresponsible and reckless because the teacher is not even empowered to do what she’s has allegedly done and also the basis is not grounds for the dismissal of pupils like this. This negatively affects teaching and learning as there is now a loss of lesson time going with this irresponsible action,” said NASGB Eastern Cape chairperson Monga Peter.

Peter said the incident is not in the good spirit of teaching and learning.  

The South African Democratic Teacher’s Union (Sadtu) could not immediately comment when contacted. Its response will be added once received.

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