THE mother of a 9-year-old grade 4 pupil from the South Coast who was allegedly punched in the face by a teacher during class, wants the teacher arrested for assault.
The incident that took place last week Thursday at Soul Primary School, in Jolivet, left the young girl with a swollen eye and forehead.
The teacher allegedly gave her an apple as a gesture of apology. The girl's mother, Sindi Dlamini said her daughter returned from school and immediately put on a hat to conceal her injury.
The learner was seen by her relative who noticed that she was bruised and swollen, but the learner refused to reveal what happened and broke down to tears.
"After a while she told us that a teacher pinched her with a fist, whom she called by name and teaches her English Creative Art," said Dlamini.
The teacher allegedly assaulted her because she didn't underline the date on her exercise book, plus she scribbled a word in one of the pages.
"The teacher asked her why she didn't underline and why she had scribbled. Then the teacher punched her on the face. The young victim's forehead and eye became swollen, then the teacher called her and rubbed her and instructed her to go to the toilet for a while and come back when it's no longer painful.
"The teacher told her to wash her face in a water tank so that she'd come home healed. She gave her an apple when she left school for home," said Dlamini. According to Dlamini, they believed the teacher was apologising by giving her daughter an apple.
She said she approached another teacher from the school who accompanied her to confront the alleged perpetrator.
"When we arrived it was clear that she did this as she couldn't maintain eye contact with me. When I asked her why she had injured my daughter she said she had apologised to her," said Dlamini.
She has opened an assault case as she wants the teacher arrested.
"She's not fit to teach our children. My daughter is traumatised, she's become extremely quiet, and at night she doesn't sleep. Other school children laughed at her on the day of the incident," said Dlamini.
After posting about the incident on social media other parents came forward with their children's assault ordeals at the hands of the same teacher. Some teachers confirmed that the teacher has an anger management issue.
KwaZulu-Natal Saps spokesperson, Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said Highflats Saps have opened an assault case after a 9-year-old girl was assaulted by someone known to her in Jolivet.
The KZN Department of Education has launched an investigation on the matter.
"We, as the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education would like to warn educators that corporal punishment is a dismissal offence, if found guilty," said KZN MEC for Education, Sipho Hlomuka.