In the past three years, 77 Western Cape teachers were involved in cases of sexual misconduct against pupils.
Education MEC Debbie Schäfer said of all the cases reported, nine were incidents where a teacher had sex with a learner.
In one case, a female teacher reportedly had sex with a male pupil, reports the Cape Argus.
“Where evidence was found, the teachers were disciplined and the correct steps were taken. In the 2016/17 year, 12 of the 21 cases resulted in a conviction,” Schäfer said in reply to a question in the Western Cape Legislature.
Chris Hart, Western Cape chief executive of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA, said they are conducting workshops to train teachers about these issues.
“What we also need to note is that sometimes teachers don’t know where to draw the line. Maybe an educator might just bump into a learner, and that can be seen as something wrong. So we really need to give our educators the training they need,” Hart said.
Asked if there was an area where sexual abuse was prevalent, he said: “It is difficult to gauge that. There are times when one teacher is responsible for multiple incidents. And those teachers can move between different regions.”
Jonovan Rustin, SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) provincial chairperson, said the problem is prevalent all over the province.
“We can’t say it is just in the rural or urban areas; we are seeing it all over. It is mostly a major problem in high schools.”