Pupil, screener suspended following violent scuffle at Northern Cape school

The Northern Cape Education department has condemned violence in schools after video footage circulated online of a violent scuffle between a learner and a screener at the William Pescodia High School in Kimberley.

The clip shows the screener violently beating the 16-year-old Grade Nine pupil.

The department has suspended both the screener and the learner, saying it’s investigating reports that the learner also attacked the screener with a knife.

The teenager’s mother, Yolanda Jafta, has accused the school of negligence. Jafta says she was shocked when her child arrived home bloody and beaten up.

Northern Cape Education MEC Zolile Monakali says both the learner and the screener have been suspended for 48-hours to cool-off, whilst they are investigating the incident.

He says the video portrays only one side of the incident.

“As I’m speaking to you right now, the learner that has been involved in this together with the screener; both of them have been removed from the school at this point in time. There was a scuffle between this learner and the screener and then the screener had been admitted to hospital yesterday with minor injuries and was released later on. The learner also was released.”