THE KZN Department of Education expressed its concern regarding the rise in corporal punishment in schools.
Education MEC Senzo Mchunu reacted to the reports by Statistics South Africa, among the findings being that KZN schools were among the worst offenders.
Corporal punishment in schools was abolished by section 10(1) of the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996.
Despite this, statistics from the 2011 General Household Survey indicated there were 2.1 million reported incidents of corporal punishment in schools that year alone.
According to the 2012 report, it found the practice was most common in the Eastern Cape (30.3%), KwaZulu-Natal (21.4%) and Free State (18.4%).
‘We find this disturbing because we have gone public on numerous occasions in impressing upon our teachers the dangers and consequences of this unlawful practice.
‘Anyone found to have acted against the law regarding this matter will be dealt with accordingly by the KZN Department of Education.
‘We have many cases of teachers who have lost their jobs as a result of this.
