Teachers lock-up learners in classrooms
According to parents, the learners were locked inside classrooms and some within the school premises way after 17:00 as teachers waited for the police to interrogate the learners
LIMPOPO – Parents of learners at Makaepea Community School near Tafelkop are up in arms after teachers at the school locked up learners following the loss of cash belonging to one of the teachers.
According to parents, the learners were locked inside classrooms and some within the school premises way after 17:00 as teachers waited for the police to interrogate the learners.
The parents said when they arrived at the school and questioned why the teachers had locked up the children, they were told police took longer to arrive at the school compared to previous occasions.
Jameson Mahlaela, a parent of a Gr 10 learner, said he was surprised when he arrived home about 15:00 and his child had not been back from school.
“When I asked why my child was not home, I was told the children were not home because they were locked up. My wife, who had just come back from the school to enquire, confirmed this,” explained Mahlaela.
He said together with more parents they went to school to find answers about the locking up of the children. “When we arrived there we found police questioning the children who were still locked up in classrooms at around 16:00. Some of the children were wondering about the school premises as the gates were locked and couldn’t get out,” further explained Mahlaela.
Const Boitumelo Matlala, Motetema police spokesperson, said he had no knowledge of the incident of police interrogating learners, but would find out.
Dr Naledzani Rasila, education department spokesperson, said it was not normal for teachers to call police to interrogate learners.
“The matter was not properly handled. There could have been other ways around the matter. For the teachers to lock up the children, call police was completely wrong,” said Rasila.
