Phutha Primary School learners have embarked on a march to say no to teacher abuse.
Teacher abuse has been a growing trend lately, with countless videos circulating on social media. This has motivated the grade 6 and 7 learners at Phutha Primary School to make their voices heard about what they feel is teacher abuse in classrooms. “Teachers are being disrespected and discriminated against by race, gender, and religion,” said a seventh-grade learner. “This is done not only by school learners but also by the community.”
These young learners feel that there is a disconnect between teachers and learners and that this gap continues to grow, which results in teacher/learner abuse. “We call for unity between teachers and learners. We have seen shocking videos trending on social media where a learner attacks a teacher, or a teacher attacks a learner. There must be an intentional program specifically focused on uniting teachers and learners; such a program can remedy the current situation in our schools.” Said a 7th-grade learner.
While the focus has been on teachers abusing learners, teacher abuse has been left unattended. Teachers have no one to turn to in cases of false accusations and abuse. Learners are aware of the power they are given, but they are misusing it. A conflict between a learner and a teacher can result in a teacher being attacked by a community and seriously injured or losing her job without fair processes to find the truth about the allegations.
“We often lodge our grievances of teacher abuse with the Department of Education; cases take too long to be resolved, if at all, and in most cases, there are no responses. We need urgent attention to learner/teacher conflict resolutions before the community’s involvement.” Said a teacher.
South Africa has a new minister of basic education after 15 years of minister Angie Motshekga. Under the new Government of National Unity, DA’s Siviwe Gwarube was selected as the new minister of Basic Education and the learners have sent out a message to the new minister.
“Our message to the new minister is to please join us in the project of uniting learners and teachers. As learners, we want to see dignity restored to our educators. Conflicts are part of life, especially since we spend long hours together. School is a community, and there should be community resolution mechanisms in place to help maintain good and fruitful relationships between teachers and learners,” a learner said.
“We urge our peers to change their negative behavior towards teachers, and teachers should do likewise. We also encourage the community to treat teachers with fairness and respect so that learners can learn from them,” concluded a learner.
The teacher abuse trend may also rise as a result of frustrating school infrastructure where learners are simply sitting on top of each other with one teacher who is expected to deliver quality education to over 50 learners cramped in one classroom.
“The amount of time lost while attending to incidents such as learner or teacher abuse is a lot; one ends up taking the time of other learners who came intending to learn and giving that time to a learner who came to school just to interrupt and cause conflicts; now you leave the 54 learners to attend to one.” Said a teacher.
Learners are organizing this march as part of their YCAP (Youth Citizen Action Program) with the Department of Basic Education. YCAP provides learners the opportunity to drive positive social, environmental, and academic change while becoming active and responsible citizens.
The march will begin at the school on the 19th of July in Klipgat, Madibeng North West, then go down to the USAVE complex, then to the councilor’s office, then down Shepherd Tuckshop to the taxi rank, then back to school.
Grievances to the circuit manager:
- Educators aren’t protected and don’t feel safe in their work environment.
- They work in fear, and nothing is done about it.
- Educators should be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve as the primary people who are spending more time with us as kids and are indirectly having an influence over our lives.
(Pics by Bonolo, an educator at the school)