Both the teacher and pupil involved in a physical altercation at San Souci Girls High this week have been suspended, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) said on Thursday.
“The learner and the educator are not at school today [Thursday],” spokesperson Jessica Shelver said.
“They have both been informed by the school governing body that disciplinary steps will be taken against them. They have been suspended pending the disciplinary hearing.”
She says pupils and teachers have been offered counselling, while the school was also looking at programmes for teachers on the “management of discipline”.
On Tuesday, the teacher klapped the girl in class after skelling at her for not having a book and for having her cellphone at school.
The teacher tells the meisie to leave and the girl apparently swears at the teacher.
The teacher snatches her cellphone and puts it on the table and the girl jumps up, shoves her desk hard at the teacher and grabs her phone.
The angry teacher then smacks her across the face.
Meanwhile, in a video that was also released on Facebook, the teen’s mother is seen talking to members of the EFF, who encourage her to take steps against the teacher.
“She has been harassing my child since last year. First it was about the braids and now this,” the mother says.
The teen stands next to her mother playing on her phone.
An EFF member then states: “We are here for you. Yes, you must lay the charges.”