‘Unsympathetic’ response to schoolgirl’s sexual harassment claim
Still no action taken by school
“We have not received any further communication or apologies from the school, and feel it would be better for her to not go back to the school,” said the enraged father of a 14-year-old girl who reported an incident of sexual harassment at school.
It has been two weeks since the girl reported the incident of sexual harassment at school by a fellow learner and the matter has still to be resolved.
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According to the girl’s father, the incident took place on 6 September, during an off period at Seekers Private School in Florida. “The Life Orientation teacher was not at school that day and the learners were not supervised during this time. A 15-year-old classmate called my daughter and said she must go with him, because he wanted to talk to her. They ended up in a secluded area and the boy started touching her inappropriately. She told him that if he did not stop she would scream, but only after she threatened to tell the teachers, did he leave her alone,” the angry father said.
The girl mentioned the incident to a fellow classmate, who confirmed that she too had been a victim of the same boy’s advances, and they discussed whether or not to tell the teachers.
“But, this boy kept threatening my daughter and intimidated her by staring at her the whole time during class, to ensure she did not tell anyone,” the father said.
Eventually she told the teacher and the deputy principal. “The teacher and the school’s deputy principal interviewed my daughter, as well as the two other girls who were also victims of this boy’s actions. According to my daughter, they were very unsympathetic and no other communication in this regard was given to the girls,” he said.
The father said a week passed after the incident before his daughter came to him and told him what happened, because she was feeling confused and too embarrassed to talk to them. “We noticed that she was a bit down, but weren’t sure whether it was just the everyday teenage stuff getting to her. After she told us about the incident, I went to see the school to ask them why we were never informed, and they said they first needed to investigated the matter. They claimed they will be having a meeting with the boy and his parents, but nothing has come of it as yet,” said the father.
The school was contacted for comment and, through communication received from OJ le Roux Attorneys, the Record was referred to the Department of Education. “Our clients reserve their right to deal with your email in detail, should the need arise in future,” the email read.
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The Gauteng Department of Education’s spokesperson, Steve Mabona said they were very concerned about the allegation and had dispatched a team of officials to the school to establish the facts. “The Department has zero tolerance for allegations of sexual assault and has never hesitated to act where allegations of this nature are proven true. Any actions of sexual misconduct in schools are strongly condemned and we encourage learners not to listen when they are told to not report these incidents, and threatened with victimisation,” he said.
He concluded by saying, “We urge learners to abide by the school code of conduct at all times and refrain from acts of misconduct. We also appeal to parents to assist the Department to enforce discipline inside and outside the school environment.”
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