Shocking statistics reveal that complaints against South African teachers are on the rise with allegations of sexual, verbal, and physical abuse directed at school learners.
According to the South African Council for Teachers, (Sace) a staggering 764 cases of misconduct against teachers were reported to the organisation from April last year to March 2022.
Earlier this month, the Education Labour Relations Council dismissed a Mpumalanga teacher for being in a sexual relationship with a Grade 12 pupil.
Ncamiso Nhlanhla Nxumalo was charged with misconduct after he had an "unwanted relationship" with one of his learners and was found guilty of misconduct and fired with immediate effect.
Another recent incident that sparked outrage when a teacher at a school in Pretoria made inappropriate remarks to a grade 11 learner and was heard asking her to demonstrate how she had sex with her boyfriend.
Many have raised concerns that the education legislation in South Africa is not effectively regulating teacher misconduct and incompetence in the public basic education system.
National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) CEO, Thirona Moodley says that teacher conduct is regulated, and accountability is enforceable and legislated by the Employment of Educators Act code of conduct, adding that there are 5 misconducts that are seen as a compulsory dismissible offences.
"We have to set precedent; we have to set harsh precedent in terms of setting examples." says the Naptosa CEO.
Moodley explains that deregistration from the South African Council for Educators (Sace) is one of the measures in place to hold unethical educators accountable for dismissible offences.
However, due to the disconnect between legislation and implementation, a number of unscrupulous teachers slip through the cracks, says Moodley.
“There is a disjuncture, in that, the provinces that are finding these educators guilty are not reporting it to Sace.”
Sace’s 2021-22 annual report also revealed that a third of all misconduct cases involved corporal punishment and assault on pupils.
Teachers unions and political parties have expressed outrage at corporal punishment and assault by teachers, despite the fact that it has been prohibited in schools for 26 years.
