'Disruptive' pupil terrorises teachers

Four teachers at a Northern Cape school are so terrified of teaching a 14-year-old girl that they have even tried to obtain a protection order against her.

The teachers - one man and three women - at St Philomena school in Onseepkans, near Pofadder, have vowed not to return to class after the June holidays unless the Grade 6 pupil is expelled.

This comes in the wake of several violent attacks against teachers and pupils over the past two weeks, with some provincial departments looking at new ways of clamping down on violence at schools.

Several recent incidents have rocked SA:

• Daniel Bakwela, 16, a Grade 8 pupil at Forest High in Johannesburg, was stabbed to death, allegedly by fellow pupil Mohamed Mwela, who has been charged with murder and is out on R5,000 bail, last Monday;
• Felies Sithembile, 15, who attended Thaba-Morula High in North West, was stabbed to death by a pupil from another school on Monday;
• On Tuesday, Sibonakaliso Nyawose, 48, a teacher at Masuku Primary in Folweni, south of Durban, was shot dead at school by an unidentified man.

The Western Cape education department told the Sunday Times that 17 stabbings and 128 assaults had been recorded at Western Cape schools between January and March.

Seven provinces that responded to questions from the newspaper this week said 84 pupils had been expelled for serious misconduct since January. These include:

• Seven pupils in the Western Cape, including three for attacking teachers;
• 12 pupils in the Eastern Cape for unruly behaviour;
• One in North West for smoking dagga;
• One pupil in the Northern Cape for misconduct;
• 10 pupils in the Free State for possessing dagga and assaulting pupils and teachers;
• Four pupils in Mpumalanga for unruly behaviour; and
• 49 pupils in Gauteng for misconduct.

Gauteng education department spokesman, Steve Mabona, said that a further 89 pupils were recommended for diversion programmes after being given suspended sentences while another 82 referrals for expulsion were being processed.

128 - The number of assaults at school that the Western Cape education department recorded between January and March

4 - The number of teachers at a Northern Cape school who applied for interim interdicts

—  IN NUMBERS

He said that 25 teachers had been assaulted by pupils from January to May.

"About 500 bullies will be identified and referred to professionals for the necessary intervention," Mabona said.

KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo did not respond to media queries.

The teachers at St Philomena Intermediate School, Donne-lee Jano, 26, Theoline Philander, 26, and sisters Bianca Pasella, 28, and Celeste Pasella, 26, were sworn at and threatened by the girl, said a well-placed source at the school.

Bianca Pasella was also allegedly slapped by the pupil in February, after which the pupil allegedly wrote a vile comment about her sex life on the girls' bathroom wall.

The four teachers declined to comment and referred queries to the Northern Cape education department. The Sunday Times was told the girl had threatened to assault Jano last month after throwing stones at his classroom while about 30 pupils were inside. The girl is said to have used a homophobic slur. According to the source, the pupil told him: "I promise you one thing, I am not going to stop until I have the blood of Mr Jano on my hands."

The four teachers' application for their interim order to be made final was declined by magistrate Viona Hess, who referred the matter to the provincial education department and the department of social development. The Sunday Times has seen the order.

Northern Cape education department spokesperson Geoffrey van der Merwe confirmed the four teachers had obtained interim interdicts against the pupil.

The principal has indicated that the governing body intends recommending expulsion from the school.

—  Northern Cape education spokesperson Geoffrey van der Merwe

"The principal has indicated that the governing body intends recommending expulsion from the school," Van der Merwe said.

Meanwhile, Western Cape education department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said a new electronic risk classification tool had been developed to look at issues such as whether schools had a functioning safety committee, a safety plan, a code of conduct and anti-gang measures.

A total of 136 law enforcement officers have also been deployed to 53 schools.

Hammond said the department had allocated R112.5m to school safety initiatives.

Free State education spokesperson Howard Ndaba said safety patrollers had been deployed to hotspot schools. "About 50 schools were provided with drug testing devices and teachers were trained on administering these tests," he said.