This story has graphic details that could upset some readers, including children.
An 11-year-old has stopped going to school after she was allegedly hit and called names by teachers. The traumatised Nkonkoni Primary School pupil told her parents that she was forced to take a foetus out of a school toilet.
She says teachers still hit her because she told her parents that a girl in Grade 7 girl apparently had a miscarriage in a toilet cubicle. She says after reporting the matter to the school authorities, she was forced to take the foetus out of the toilet basin and wash it.
Her parents reported the alleged abuse to the Education Department’s district office, after the school denied everything.
The girl’s grandmother says: “The cleaner of the school is the one who called the learners. She came back with three gloves. She wore two and gave one to my grandchild. She instructed her to take the foetus out of the toilet and wash it in the sink. She took it out and washed it. The cleaner was busy taking a video while my child was washing the foetus. Another teacher came with a scarf and my child had to cover the foetus, then they went to the tv room.”
The 11-year-old says the staff victimised her because she reported the matter at home and her parents complained to the Education Department’s district office.
“When I went to school again it was during the prayer session at the assembly, the principal ordered me to leave the assembly and to go to his office. Upon our arrival at his office he called me a witch, saying I’m possessed with demons, and I’m a fool, he also told me to ask my grandmother to send me for a mental evaluation. He said my family is too poor to afford a psychiatrist as we are not even paying tax,” says the 11-year-old.
A parent of one of three girls who witnessed the incident, raised concern about how the school is dealing with the matter.
“There seems to be a fight between our families and the school. I’m fearing for my child’s safety. I even told our neighbour who is a victim in this matter that by the way things are going, one wouldn’t know what is happening to our children at school,” says the parent.
Meanwhile, a specialist from the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department sent a letter to the family, saying the girl needs psychiatric evaluation and treatment because she is imagining things.
Spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa says: “We have actually gone to an extent of offering help for the learner in question, but it seems to us that her parents seem to be rejecting that kind of help. We won’t stop just yet. We will continue to try and intervene. It seems to us that the leaner may require some kind of assessment in terms of her being assessed.”
After the SABC News presented the family’s version of events to Mthethwa, he gave an undertaking that the department will investigate further. The school has refused to allow SABC News to speak to the cleaner who allegedly took the video of the foetus.
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