Was it appropriate for this principal to strip a pupil to her panties as punishment?
One of the top stories on News24 this morning is about a girl who was stripped to her panties and made to stand under a carport as punishment by the school principal. The 10-year-old's crime? Wearing her trousers to school instead of the skirt she was meant to.
According to her mother, the Grade 4 pupil wore her long, grey trousers to school instead of a school skirt because it was wet from when it had rained the day before. She was then made to go home without her trousers because they had been misplaced.
I had a few thoughts when I read this. Is this really the best way to discipline a child who more than likely didn't even make the decision to wear the pants instead of the skirt? When something like this occurs surely it's the parent who says: "Ag, just wear your pants today. Your skirt is still wet." Or was it the 10-year-old's responsibility to make sure her skirt was dry for the next day? Do 10-year-olds even have that kind of foresight?
I don't know, maybe it's just the 10-year-olds I know who don't worry about this sort of thing. They tend to need reminding just to remove their uniform after school or to do their homework. Repeatedly.
Do you think the punishment was appropriate? Or did this principal go overboard?
By: Zayaan Schroeder Mollagee