A Western Cape math and science educator with over three decades of experience has been dismissed for sexually assaulting four primary school students.
A student testified that she believed the teacher had touched her in a friendly manner, but her perception changed when she learned that he had similarly touched other girls.
Also read: Court issues arrest warrant for retired teacher accused of sexual abuse
As reported by Times LIVE, a 56-year-old teacher, recognised as a competent mathematics instructor and one of the finest educators, was dismissed due to a confession of sexual misconduct.
To safeguard the wellbeing of the affected students, the teacher’s identity was not disclosed, and an arbitrator was appointed following recommendations from the provincial education department to probe the allegations.
The teacher is accused of violating the Employment of Educators Act on five counts. These charges included tickling four students under their breasts and touching one student on her upper arm while at school.
The students were in the seventh grade, and all incidents took place between January and February this year, according to the recent ruling from the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) issued last Tuesday, 22 August 2023.
Also read: Principal ‘deeply disturbed’ by sexual abuse at elite Cape Town school
ELRC commissioner Jacques Buitendag made contact with the school principal and pupils to provide testimony. The principal said three ‘visibly upset’ students approached him on 27 January to report the incidents.
‘[The principal] testified that educators are not allowed in the space of learners,’ the ruling states.
‘He did not probe the learners about the incidents but referred it to the [department] for investigation. [The principal] explained that he was wearing two hats. [The teacher] is a competent mathematics teacher and one of the best educators at the school and he is a valuable asset to the school. [The teacher] was not placed on precautionary suspension. He is a colleague and friend and he does not want anything bad to happen to [him].’
‘On the other hand, he must enforce the policies and rules of the [department] and create a safe environment for the learners. [The teacher] should not be allowed in the space of the learners based on the allegations to which he had pleaded guilty.’
A 13-year-old girl testified the teacher was ‘checking her mathematics work when he tickled her under her breast’. She said ‘no sir’.
The ruling reads, ‘[The pupil] testified that it is her body and her private parts and that she felt uncomfortable. No-one has ever before touched her in such a manner.’
A second student testified that ‘while she was busy with her homework [the teacher] approached her and [touched] her under her arm and next to the left side of her breast.’
‘She did not like it and she felt uncomfortable,’ the ruling continues. ‘It happened in the first term during February 2023. At first, she thought that he touched her in a friendly manner, but this has changed when she heard that he also touched other girls in the same manner.’
Also read: DA concerned about rise in reported sexual misconduct in SA schools
The department stated that the educator was ‘aware of the rules and had betrayed the trust placed in him’ and that instead of creating a safe environment for learners, he became a threat and abused the students for his own pleasure.
The department said, ‘For an educator with more than 30 years of experience, he ought to have known what is expected of him and his conduct was inappropriate.’
The teacher has pleaded guilty and was deemed unfit to work with children. He argued that he ‘wanted to make the learners feel more comfortable in his class and tickled them.’
‘[The teacher] demonstrated how he tickled the learners,’ the ruling reads. ‘[He] said that he has done it in previous years and that there were no complaints. He cannot recall that any one of the learners said they felt uncomfortable.’
He said that ‘after a parent of one of the learners approached him in February 2023, he stopped tickling the girls.’
‘[The teacher] said he had no intention to do anything untoward to the learners. He is 56 years old and does not want this to end his career.’
Also read: UCT SRC member suspended for sexual misconduct
The union representing the teacher argued that he was not ‘charged with sexual misconduct and that it cannot be assumed that his conduct amounts to sexual misconduct in the absence of such evidence’.
The representative said his client should not be ‘subjected to a pre-dismissal inquiry’, as he had ‘pleaded guilty to the allegations, acknowledged his wrongdoing and has shown genuine remorse.’ He added that ‘the main objective of the disciplinary action is [to] correct behaviour,’ adding that the educator had a ‘clean record [and] was not suspended’.
ELRC commissioner Buitendag said that while touching a pupil’s upper arm was not a cause for concern, the teacher’s conduct towards the four students was inappropriate.
Buitendag said, ‘[The teacher] chose to touch or tickle these four 13-year-old female learners [who are in their early adolescence], underneath or side of their breasts.’
‘I cannot accept that a male educator could have ever considered touching or tickling 13-year-old female leaners underneath or at the side of their breasts would be OK. [The teacher] has admitted, by pleading guilty, that his conduct was improper, disgraceful or unacceptable.’
‘I find his conduct being far removed from acting in the best interest of the learners. It was also not an isolated incident as it happened to four female learners and on four separate occasions between January and February 2023.’
He added, ‘[The] teacher has breached his trust. I find dismissal to be the only appropriate sanction in this instance. Having regard of the seriousness of [the teacher’s] conduct, I find him unsuitable to work with children.’
Buitendag instructed that a copy of the ruling be forwarded to the South African Council for Educators for their deliberation on the possible revocation of the teacher’s certification.
Also read:
Picture: Teresa Howes / Pexels
