THE Gauteng Department of Education visited President High School on January 25 to establish facts regarding the disturbing viral video depicting learners in a violent confrontation.
On the video, one learner is seen beating the other until he falls, hitting his head on the ground.
Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi met with the principal, André Ferreira, who indicated it was an isolated incident following an altercation between the learners.
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The preliminary report indicates the altercation started when the perpetrator threw a ball towards a Grade Eight learner, which was seen by the victim, who then confronted the perpetrator regarding the incident.
Lesufi cautioned against jumping to conclusions prior to the disciplinary hearing, as it would provide more details about what transpired. He also expressed concern about learners fighting, surrounded by a crowd and no one trying to intervene to stop the incident, as this sends out a very bad message.
The learners caught fighting on video have been suspended and will appear before a disciplinary process on January 31.
The disciplinary process will provide more details regarding what transpired, as the learners will have an opportunity to express their side of the story.
Lesufi welcomed the decision of the school to deploy additional educators for monitoring during break time.
“This is one of our top performing schools, with 98 per cent matric pass rate. Hence we were concerned when news of such an incident surfaced. We welcome the decision of the school to increase the number of educators who will monitor the learners during break time, from four educators to 10.
“The department will not tolerate any form of racism or bullying in our schools. We have a reponsibility to protect every learner,” said Lesufi.
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The psycho-social unit has dispatched a team to the school to provide counselling to both the learners who were involved in the incident.
The department will continue to monitor the situation.
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