The False Bay College lecturer who was hit in the face with a brick, allegedly by one of his students, has been placed on sick leave.
|||Cape Town - The False Bay College lecturer who was hit in the face with a brick, allegedly by one of his students, has been placed on sick leave and asked to “be left alone”.
Emile Boggenpoel, a lecturer at the college’s Westlake campus, was allegedly assaulted by a 26-year-old student on Friday afternoon.
“The student was apparently selling chips outside a class when the lecturer asked him to move on. The student later entered the class armed with a brick and hit the lecturer above the eye,” explained Paddy Attwell, spokesman for the Western Cape Education Department.
The suspect was taken into custody by police, and Boggenpoel received five stitches above his eye.
The college’s human resources department said Boggenpoel had been placed on sick leave until the end of the week. College CEO Cassie Kruger said Boggenpoel had requested to be left alone.
Meanwhile, students at the school had mixed reactions to the incident.
Lwandile Gqalani said he knew the 26-year-old suspect: “He was a great guy. We went to church together and he seemed very calm. I’m very surprised to hear that he snapped like that.”
A third-year student, who asked not to be named, said the incident was not surprising.
“The classes here are fairly unruly. People are often loud and badly behaved when the class is ongoing. Boggenpoel had a bit of a reputation for trying to keep strict control, but it didn’t really work. I suspect that he must have been rather frustrated with the working conditions,” he said.
Kruger, however, denied that there was a discipline problem and “tough working conditions” at the college.
In February 2005, a UCT associate professor died after he was attacked and severely injured by a former student. Brian Hahn, 58, died at Cape Town’s Vincent Pallotti Hospital after being repeatedly beaten with an umbrella by Maleasfisha Tladi.
Attwell said all incidents of teachers being attacked by students or pupils were viewed in a serious light: “Both of the (most recent) incidents are completely unacceptable. There are policies and procedures in place to deal with these.”
He said an internal hearing would take place at False Bay College.
daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za
Cape Argus