Education

Question by: 
Hon Basil Kivedo
Answered by: 
Hon Debbie Schäfer
Question Number: 
11
Question Body: 

1.How many cases of (a) corporal punishment and (b) physical abuse of learners by school staff members have been reported to and investigated by her Department in each school district in (i) 2016 and (ii) 2017;

  1. for each case, (a) whether the alleged perpetrator was a government-employed staff member or appointed by the school governing body (SGB), (b) whether the alleged perpetrator was found guilty; if so, what action was taken, (c) whether the case was reported to the South African Police Service (SAPS); if not; why not; if so, what are the relevant details and (d) whether her Department reported the case to the South African Council for Educators (SACE); if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Answer Body: 

THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION

11.     (1)     See the table below

 

YEAR

MNED

Metropole North Education District

MSED

Metropole South Education District

ECKD

Eden and Central Karoo Education District

OED

Overberg Education District

MEED

Metropole East Education District

West Coast

Education District

MCED

Metropole Central Education District

Winelands

Corporal punishment/ physical abuse

CS

PS

CS

PS

CS

PS

CS

PS

CS

PS

CS

PS

CS

PS

CS

PS

2016/2017

65

3

57

9

54

1

18

0

65

3

23

1

29

0

10

0

Guilty

24

2

31

4

29

1

9

0

35

1

16

0

16

0

6

0

Not Guilty/ Insufficient evidence

41

1

26

5

25

0

9

0

30

2

6

1

13

0

4

0

2017/2018

49

0

48

5

41

0

14

2

23

0

12

1

21

1

18

0

Guilty

17

0

25

4

28

0

7

0

12

0

5

0

13

1

12

0

Not Guilty/ Insufficient evidence

32

0

23

1

13

0

7

2

11

0

7

1

8

0

6

0

CS = educator

PS = public servant

 

(2)     for each case,

  1. All were WCED employees. The WCED does not have jurisdiction over School Governing Body employees, and accordingly does not have information in that regard.
  2. Sanctions vary from a final written warning and a fine/ or suspension without remuneration to dismissal.
  3. In the majority of cases the parents reported the alleged sexual offences to SAPS; parents sometimes also report cases of corporal punishment and assault. The WCED is not always notified when these cases are reported and therefore has no way of tracking these.  The disciplinary process runs independently from a criminal investigation.

All guilty findings are reported to SACE in terms of section 26 of the Employment of Educators Act, 76 of 1998.

Date: 
Friday, November 17, 2017
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