Bullying among learners at school is expected to dominate the South African Human Rights Commission’s three-day hearings in Polokwane.
The hearings on corporal punishment and sexual relationships between teachers and learners come after a bullying incident at Mbilwi high school in Thohoyandou a few weeks ago. The incident led to a grade 10 learner Lufuno Mavhunga taking her life.
She committed suicide after a video showing her being assaulted by a fellow learner went viral on social media.
President of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Parliament, Freddy Ramonyai says learners who bully others are often victims of bullying themselves.
“What normally prompts the children to be bullies is that they get bullied somewhere and they turn to take it somewhere they think it’s right, it’s good. I think because they are not getting the right teaching starting from home. So when they see certain things happening, they think it’s the right way to do them and they pass those teaching from home to other learners they consider as certain activities of bullying.”
Calls for psycho-social support programmes in schools:
‘Victim of bullying’
Former actress on the SABC soapie Muvhango, Susan Ravuku, has called on the government to urgently address the problem of bullying at schools.
Addressing the public hearings on bullying, corporal punishment and sexual relationships between teachers and learners in Polokwane this week, Ravuku said she was bullied at school for her dark complexion and that her three children are also experiencing bullying.
“At my primary and secondary level, I was the victim of bullying, the teachers and learners they called me by the name of “blackie”. They called me that because I am black in colour. So when now my kids come home and report that they are bullied at school, it means I have to go back and think about what is going on just because they are bullying my kids and I was bullied also. My child was beaten up inside the classroom and the teacher was there.”
