A teacher from a school in Robertson who is accused of sexually assaulting a pupil who later miscarried her baby has been dismissed with immediate effect.
This after the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) found the teacher guilty of two charges – having sexual intercourse with the girl who was then 15 without her consent and kissing her on the lips.
Council arbitrator Arthi Singh-Bhoopchand declared the teacher unfit to work with children and ordered that the Department of Social Development be notified of the ruling in writing.
Singh-Bhoopchand further stated that a copy of the arbitration award would be sent to the South African Council for Educators for the revoking of teachers’ certificates.
The teacher pleaded not guilty and alleged it was the pupil who harassed and pursued him.
The matter was also an ongoing criminal case.
The pupil had testified that the teacher began communicating with her privately in January 2022 on a social media group created for school-work purposes.
He asked for her cellphone number, and after a number of chats he allegedly asked the pupil to delete them because he could lose his job.
After he requested numerous times that they meet, the pupil went to his house, where he tried to kiss her, but she pushed him away.
The teacher was allegedly angry and a scuffle ensued.
“She fell to the ground, he unbuckled her jeans and pulled them off her.
He then penetrated her. She began to cry but as the music was on, no one would have heard her.
“After he was done, he went to his room to clean himself. She wiped herself, had a glass of water and went home and had a shower. She did not tell anyone what happened,” the arbitration award reads.
The two stopped talking after the alleged incident. However the pupil learned she was pregnant and they were forced to speak again.
The teacher allegedly gave her money for abortion pills but later came up with another plan that she should have sexual intercourse with someone else and accuse that person of impregnating her.
When the pupil was seven months’ pregnant, she miscarried.
The pupil’s father testified that he was very angry when he learnt of this and reported the matter to police.
The teacher said he had started communicating with the pupil because he noticed she had been absent from school for a long time and denied screenshots of WhatsApp conversations related to him.
The teacher said there was an orchestrated plan to bring him down, possibly by colleagues and school management.
Singh-Bhoopchand said there was no evidence to support the teacher’s assumptions and no reason provided why individuals would choose a random pupil to make her go to such lengths to fabricate evidence against him.
She said in fact, the evidence was that the pupil was trying to protect him when she was pregnant.
“He warned her in social media chats that if it were known he was the father of her child he would lose his job.”
Western Cape Education (WCED) spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said: “The teacher was incarcerated from December 2022 until July 17, 2023.
“He was then suspended as a precautionary measure.
“The WCED received the ELRC award on November 21. This date is regarded as his last day of service and the dismissal was implemented immediately.”
Hammond said having a sexual relationship with a learner was regarded as serious misconduct.
Cape Times