Times Of Swaziland: DID TEACHER BEAT PARENTS FOR PUPILS’ SINS?

DID TEACHER BEAT PARENTS FOR PUPILS’ SINS?
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BY KHULEKANI NENE on 04/08/2019 23:49:00


MAVALELA – Did a senior teacher of Mavalela Primary force parents to bear the
sins of their children?
That is probably the question that was on everybody’s mind following startling
revelations made by a group of women at a community meeting at Mavalela on
Saturday.
Mavalela is a tiny rural community located on the foot of the Lubombo Mountains
near the agricultural town of Big Bend, south east of the country.
The women alleged during the meeting that they were forced by the school’s
administration to take punishment on behalf of their children.
One of the women told the gathering that the senior teacher threatened to expel
her children from the school if she declined to take the punishment.
Absenteeism.
She said this allegedly happened on a day some pupils were to receive punishment
for absenteeism.
“The pupils had finished writing their exams and then decided not to report
for school. The school’s administration saw this as a violation of the school
rules and she ruled that the pupils would be punished when they return to
collect their academic reports,” said the woman.
She told the meeting that it was an ‘open day’ and parents had come to
collect academic progress reports, when the teacher administered corporal
punishment to those pupils who had absented themselves.
However, for those pupils who had not come to school on that day, the teacher
allegedly forced parents to take the punishment of their behalf.
“We were told that if we did not take the punishment on behalf of our
children, they would be expelled from the school. We didn’t want this to
happen hence we chose to take the punishment,” alleged the woman.
Mavalela Community Headman (Indvuna) Mfanasibili Nhlabatsi asked how many
parents were beaten and the response was that there were ‘many’.
“Let me start by stating that I was not one of those who were beaten but I saw
several women being beaten on the hand for the sins of their children. I was
there and I can testify to this,” said a young woman during the meeting.
Some of the women, who were allegedly beaten, later told this reporter that they
never reported the incident to the police because they did not consider it to be
a serious assault case that could be taken seriously by authorities.
“I had gone to participate in a building project that was taking place at the
school and then I saw parents queuing at the school’s administration block for
their children’s academic reports. When I got there, the teacher (allegedly)
dragged me and beat me five times. She said two of my children had absented
themselves,” said an elderly woman after the meeting. She added that she did
not feel embarrassed by the incident at the time as there were other women who
were also beaten.