www.corpun.com
| www.corpun.com : Archive : 2018 : ZA Schools Oct 2018 |
Corpun file 26753 at www.corpun.com
Daily News, Durban, 7 October 2018
Durban teacher in "big trouble" after caning video goes viral
By Anelisa Kubbeka
Durban - A teacher at a Durban school is "in big trouble" after being caught on camera caning two pupils.
The Grade 11 teacher is seen and heard reading out the names of pupils who failed to attend an after-school study session which begins at 3pm.
He is then seen raising a length of thin pipe and striking a male pupil three times on the hand. He then similarly strikes a female pupil before the video ends.
Education Department spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa said: "We condemn such behaviour from teachers. We have a very harsh attitude towards any person still administering corporal punishment. If, indeed, the person in this video is an employee of the department, he is in big trouble."
The video comes amid a raging debate on corporal punishment being waged online and in print.
The University of KwaZulu-Natal hosted a discussion on the matter last week, and teachers' union Sadtu this week called on Congress of SA Students (Cosas) to retract a statement calling on pupils to strike back at teachers using corporal punishment.
A Cosas member, who would not be named, said a parent had alerted it to the video after reporting incidents of corporal punishment at the school a number of times to the principal.
He said Cosas went to the school with a corporal punishment awareness campaign in 2015, but was not allowed on the premises.
"From what we have gathered from pupils, at least 90% of teachers at the school administer corporal punishment. Corporal punishment continues to be a norm at that school.
"Teachers have no right to hit pupils, even if it's just one stroke. We retracted our statement that pupils should hit back at teachers. Teachers now must stop hitting pupils; it's enough," he said.
Sadtu said it would visit the school when classes resumed after the holidays.
Deputy provincial secretary Bheki Shandu said violence could not be accepted in schools.
"Corporal punishment was proven not to be a necessity in assisting with academics at schools, but that it rather instils fear in pupils and teaches them to be violent," he said.
However, Shandu added that relying on the policy of no corporal punishment was not enough; there needed to be monitoring to ensure compliance by teachers.
"This (the video) is one of those unfortunate incidents showing the use of outlawed corporal punishment when there are alternative methods available as corporal punishment is not conducive to learning," he said.
Weighing in on the video, Professor Nyna Amin, of the school of education at UKZN, said the male pupil in the video received his punishment impassively, with no body language to indicate fear, while the female appeared to be embarrassed and a little apprehensive.
"When punishment occurs on a regular basis, individuals hide emotions as a means of surviving trauma and eventually it becomes the way to deal with stressful situations. Individuals who are emotionally disconnected may later exhibit cruelty to others. Violence in one setting can be the catalyst for reproduction elsewhere," she said.
Amin said the children were learning vicariously that obedience required the use of physical pain.
"The video makes apparent the bare, cold and dirty conditions under which some children receive education. This is certainly not the way to educate the next generation of South Africans. We need to see corporal punishment as being at the centre of the production and reproduction of violence."
Corpun file 26725 at www.corpun.com
SABC News, 13 October 2018
Inanda pupils call for return of corporal punishment
By Busi Magudulela
Pupils from 20 schools in the Inanda area, north of Durban have staged a protest calling for the reintroduction of corporal punishment in schools.
Learners argue that most of their schoolmates are out of control and have become violent.
One of the students says: "I feel corporal punishment has to come back now as students have too much freedom and we misusing that freedom. Students are not respecting teachers because nothing is going to be done to them. Students smoke dagga inside school premises knowing teachers will not do anything."
Community members echoed the calls for corporal punishment to be brought back saying most of the violent crimes taking place in their community have young people involved due to a lack of discipline.
Parents say government should revisit its policy when it comes to this.
They met with the teachers to find a way to get the department of education to consider bringing back corporal punishment.
About this website
Search this site
Country files: Corporal punishment in South African schools
Archive 2018: S. Africa
External links: School CP
Video clips
Picture index
www.corpun.com Main menu page
Copyright © C. Farrell 2020
Page created June 2020.
