SACE ‘must send clear message to teachers’

SACE ‘must send clear message to teachers’

The National Association of School Governing Bodies has said the South African Council for Educators (SACE) must do more to ensure that corporal punishment is stopped in schools.

The organisation was commenting after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ordered that the sanctions meted out by SACE to two educators for practising corporal punishment be remitted back to the body for reconsideration.

The teachers who meted out corporal punishment against two primary school learners in the classroom were fined R15000 each, of which R5000 was suspended by SACE.

The sanction also included striking the names of the teachers off the educators’ roll, which was also suspended for 10 years.

The Centre for Child Law (CCL) and the mothers of the children took the matter to court as they felt the sentences were too lenient. They were represented by Section27.

The CCL had argued, first in the high court, that the sentences were too lenient, did not deal with rehabilitative and corrective sanctions, and the parents and their children were not allowed to make representations at the disciplinary hearings.

While the high court agreed that the SACE’s policy on sanctions be revised, the CCL felt that more action was needed and it approached the SCA.

According to the South African Schools Act, corporal punishment has been banned since 1996.

The National Association of School Governing Bodies general secretary, Matakanye Matakanya, said that SACE was not doing enough to ensure that corporal punishment is stopped in schools.

“SACE needs to send a clear message to teachers that corporal punishment will not be tolerated as it is against the Constitution of South Africa. SACE is like the police body for teachers, and it is (its) duty to ensure that teachers don’t use corporal punishment, and if they do, appropriate action is taken.”

SACE spokesperson Risuna Nkuna said they had noted the judgment by the SCA.

“We can’t comment at this stage as we are still studying the judgment and then will meet internally. Thereafter, we will release a statement publicly next week.”

In a joint statement, the CCL and Section27 said the SCA had affirmed that SACE had a duty to protect the best interests of the child.

“The SCA emphasised that SACE cannot just hand down cookie-cutter sentences but must allow for flexibility in its sentencing policy and has a duty to ‘assess the impact of the actions of educators on the children, including whether it is advisable that the educators return to the classroom; whether it is necessary to protect the children from harm; and, whether the underlying causes of the educators’ violent behaviour require addressing’.”

According to the South African Schools Act, corporal punishment has been banned since 1996.

They added that the judgment marked a great victory for the CCL and the two families.

Vee Gani, chairperson of the Parents Association in KwaZulu-Natal said corporal punishment is a crime and there should be no reason for it in schools.

He said teachers should not resort to corporal punishment to deal with ill discipline in pupils and there were other options including counselling services they could use.

The Mercury