Picture: Screenshot from X
There’s uproar on social media after a video surfaced of a white pupil strangling a black pupil at a Free State school, while a teacher allegedly stands by and watches.
Welkom Technical High School is now facing allegations of racism.
The black pupil’s father told City Press that he laid criminal charges and was in the process of suing the school for failing to prevent the assault on his son.
He accused the teacher of only trying to stop the fight once his son fought back.
He said: “The footage shows that when he fought back, it was only when she intervened. Clearly, it’s racial. While he was attacked, she just stood there and watched.
City Press reported that the boys father had first heard about the incident on Monday when he was called to come to the school to fetch his son.
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He added: “The pastor of the school called and said he was suspended and we had to go to school on Wednesday for a meeting because he was in a fight. My son did not get a letter of suspension. On Monday afternoon, I saw footage of the fight that occurred in the classroom during school hours in the presence of the female white teacher.
“My son was strangled by a white boy, and she did nothing, but when my son got up to fight back, that’s when she got physically involved, but she just watched as my son was being assaulted,” the boy’s father told the publication.
He said he laid charges of attempted murder at Jan Hofmeyer Police Station in Welkom.
The school on Wednesday held a meeting with the parents of the pupils, during which the principal allegedly tried to convince them not to take the matter to the media and withdraw the case with the police.
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There were mixed reactions on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to the teacher’s reaction to the fight.
A teacher, who goes by the handle @JosephLaughterS, posted: “I am a teacher and I can say that this is all shades of wrong!!! What’s the point of your safeguarding training if you’ll stand and watch students maul themselves?”
@_simplyenny said: “The teacher should be suspended pending an investigation into this. Expel a student who instigated the fight. Also, why are we having these conversations every single week?”
“What did they expect the teacher to do. Imagine getting beat up by kids while trying to stop a fight.”
“Ridiculous, two adolescent boys fighting, female teacher can’t get in the middle of that. She can be heard telling the one student ‘Xander’ to let go. The other student tried to intervene but was unsuccessful. We can’t see racism in everything.”
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