Classrooms drenched in fear

The violent tendencies exhibited by some teachers are not their instinctive reaction to inherently 'badly behaved' children, but rather a systemic failure that leaves educators feeling powerless, an educational expert said yesterday.

- SIPHO JACK [e-mail]

These comments followed a harrowing incident that sparked outrage, where a teacher at Dr Joseph Shabalala School in Ladysmith was captured on video assaulting learners.

This incident ignited a national dialogue on the pervasive issue of violence within South African schools.

Professor Wayne Hugo from UKZN weighed in and characterised the teacher’s actions as being more than mere cruelty, labelling it as a desperate grasp for control in an environment rife with chaos and resource scarcity.