NO PLANS TO EXPEL PUPILS OVER PROTESTS – SOME HEADS

MBABANE – Some school head teachers have stated that expelling pupils who they fingered during protests is currently not in their plans.

The head teachers of the schools where protests took place are adamant that their pupils’ welfare was important, regardless of their actions, and, therefore, hush disciplinary measures on the pupils fingered in the protests were not recommended. Some of the school head teachers, who were directly affected by the protests, were called to ascertain how best they would deal with the pupils fingered during the recent protests, more especially because some protested in full view of the educators, while others were identified in pictures and videos circulated on social media platforms. The identity of the head teachers and the names of the schools have been withheld to avoid victimisation.

Property

A head teacher in one of the schools in the Shiselweni Region stated that it was currently not easy to pinpoint the pupils who were implicated and they did not want to make presumptions as to who was responsible for the vandalism of the property in the school.  However, he said the Ministry of Education and Training would most likely assist them in crafting a way forward once investigations by the police were completed and if those implicated turned out to be pupils of the school.

“It is not easy to simply expel or suspend the pupils we identified during the protests. The only appropriate next step is that once things die down and pupils return to school, we sit down with the pupils and engage  them about the behaviour they exerted or even sit down with them and their parents to forge a way forward,” he said.

Another head teacher whose school was also affected by protests, said usually they discussed disciplinary issues with teachers and the school committee. However, she said it was currently difficult to determine what to do once the pupils returned to school because during the protests, police wanted to know the pupils who had been identified but the personnel at the school felt they wanted the police to do their own assessment and find the culprits because at the end of the day, as educators they had a duty to look after the well-being of the pupils.

“We feel that some of these children are being influenced by non-scholars, therefore, we cannot finger them and hope the police will gather information and identify those implicated in their own way without us intervening directly,” said the head teacher. She also mentioned that as a school, they had a disciplinary committee which dealt with issues of this nature, therefore whatever steps were taken would be decided on internally.

“Some of these pupils we are familiar with, so the committee will contact the parents to alert them of the damage that particular pupil had caused and then the parent will bear part of the costs. The parents of the implicated pupils can then proceed to let us know how much they can contribute and things will be taken from there,” she said. The head teacher mentioned that this would be done to avoid requesting for funds from all pupils because some of them were not involved in the protests, therefore, they should not be burdened with the costs.

“All we need is to reach an understanding with the parents to recover what has been lost,” this, according to the head teacher, was part of the processes they would embark on once the pupils returned to school. She highlighted that the school had been hit twice by these protests, with the initial protests being light and the second wave being extensive and causing more damage. Therefore, according to the head teacher, the pupils would be dealt with according to the extent of the damage.

Worth noting is that most of the head teachers indicated that when it came to the arson attacks on the schools, most of the perpetrators were not pupils of the schools but in the case where pupils were involved, they would rope in their parents or allow the police to conduct their investigations and do their job. “The severity of the cases won’t be the same, you find that one burnt tyres and shattered windows within the school premises and another sang political songs and refused to learn. Therefore, these cases will be handled differently by the disciplinary committees,” she further said.

However, the head teacher stated that they ruled out total expulsion as it was not included in their school regulations. She did mention though that suspension was not ruled out when meting out discipline. According to most of the interviewed head teachers, it was hard to determine at this point in time what disciplinary procedure would be used on the pupils found to have been protesting and vandalising school property as there were a lot of stakeholders that had to be consulted before a final decision was made.

Decisions

A head teacher from one of the primary schools, where protests took place, stated that primary school pupils were incapable of making decisions such as engaging in protests, therefore, what they were currently proposing to do was to sit down with the pupils and try to advise them against taking part in protests. “These children are quite young and right now they need someone who will advise them and enable them to tell the difference between wrong and right,” he said.

When Clinical Psychologist Ndo Mdlalose was asked to share her expertise on how best the educators can handle the return of the pupils who took part in schools protests, she said; “That’s a tough one. I’ve also been going around town interviewing these children. Most of them are just gullible; and do not fully comprehend the whole purpose. However, against school rules and policy; they do need to be brought to order. Not punishing them will be a bad example to the other learners; as it will give them ideas on making the situation worse. Psychotherapy is essential; as some of these pupils have their own personal and domestic problems and these protests are a good way of projecting their anger and frustration.

“I interviewed some pupils in the streets; batsi it is so much fun; some benefit from the looting for their poor families. Finally; learner or not - the violence, bullying, arson, destruction of property, forcing innocent and uninterested citizens to join the ‘struggle’, intimidation and causing chaos is not right;  but unfair to those who suffer the repercussions. Those need to be punished and the law enforcers take action,” said Mdlalose.

The Communications Officer in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office was also contacted on same and stated that Section 11 of the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act was relevant to the aforementioned topic. Section 11 is on the Children in Conflict with the Law, Age of Criminal Responsibility and Age determination.

Treatment

However, it was also gathered that Section three Sub-section 14; Right to protection from degrading treatment states that; “(2) A child should be disciplined in accordance with his age, physical, psychological, emotional and mental condition and no discipline is justifiable if by reason of tender age or otherwise the child is incapable of understanding the purpose of the discipline.”

Save the Children Director Dumisani Mnisi has also previously been reported to have said the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act of 2012 was very clear that child incarceration was the last resort no matter how serious the crime was.

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