Publications
Partners
- Two Grade 9 pupils and a teacher traded blows during a fight in a classroom at Glenvista High School in Johannesburg South on Thursday.
- Gauteng education department officials visited the school on Friday.
- A parent said several fights had broken out between pupils on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.
A video clip of a Glenvista High School teacher and two pupils using a chair and a desk to attack each other in a classroom has gone viral.
In the clip, a pupil at the Johannesburg South school, whom News24 has reliably learnt is a Grade 9 pupil, can be seen attempting to throw a punch at the teacher.
The teacher then lunges at the boy and during the altercation the teacher falls to the floor. He then gets up and grabs a chair and runs after the pupil, throwing the chair at him. Another pupil then flings a desk at the teacher.
Other pupils can be heard screaming in the background.
News24 was reliably informed that officials from the Gauteng Department of Education met the principal of the school, Thobile Morgan, on Friday morning to discuss the incident.
A parent of a pupil at the school, who expressed outrage over the incident, said there had been several fights between pupils last week and that discipline was a problem.
"There was pandemonium at the school on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. Pupils are very unruly."
ALSO READ | Matric pupil dies days after school brawl, inquest docket opened
According to the parent, the school sent out a message on a WhatsApp group on 17 April, reminding them of an important meeting the following day to discuss serious concerns around pupils abusing cellphones and social media platforms.
In a document circulated to parents, the school said that it had been dealing with numerous cases involving pupils' creation of WhatsApp groups and social media platform pages to bully their peers and "speak ill about each other and their families".
"This has resulted in an alarming number of fights occurring."
Reacting to the video clip, Basil Manuel, executive director of the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of SA (Naptosa), said it was a great pity that the teacher had "lost his cool completely" during the incident.
"There must have been extreme provocation for the teacher's reaction. Our plea to teachers is they must try and defuse those situations because at the end of the day, the people will focus on the adult and not the child because the adult did certain things," he said.
"Yet he was probably pushed to the end of his tether. He's a young man; he's got his whole future ahead of him and we hope that this incident is not going to mean the end of a career."
Mary Metcalfe, professor of practice at the University of Johannesburg, called for a full investigation into the incident.
Comments on a WhatsApp group for members of the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) centred around the pupils' behaviour.
A member wrote: "This needs serious intervention. These learners need to be reprimanded. Discipline is seriously needed."
Another said that "teachers are an endangered species".
Yet another member of the group said: "Educators are in danger and really need our assistance. When we become too protective to learners who behave in this fashion, we end up breeding criminals who will terrorise us.
"Kids who misbehave in this fashion did not fall from heaven but were bred by us by overprotecting them. As [the] institution entrusted with providing strategic direction for the schools, we need to come up with clear policies to address this kind of misbehaviour. Unless we put our legs on the ground the future of this country is totally doomed."
READ | Curro teacher fired for telling pupil to stop laughing 'like an idiot'
News24 sent the video clip to the South African Council for Educators (SACE), but no comment was forthcoming at the time of publication.
The school said the principal was in a meeting.
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane said they had launched an investigation to ascertain the details of the incident.
"We take this matter seriously. The safety of everyone on the premises of schools remains our utmost priority," he said.
He added that "ill-discipline" would not be tolerated.
"Schools are for development, not any other nefarious deeds. As such, we are investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident. We will act decisively on our findings," said Chiloane.
In 2021, pupils from Glenvista High School who refused to write an exam torched parts of the school hall, causing extensive damage.
Curtains, a projector screen, electrical wiring and the public address system were damaged in the blaze.
