An angry father says his son was left traumatised after being forced to lick urine off the floor of a school cloakroom.
|||Cape Town - An angry father says his son has been left traumatised after being forced to lick urine off the floor by his teacher.
The incident happened at a Milnerton primary school on November 14.
And the Daily Voice is in possession of a letter signed by the teacher apologising for his behaviour.
The boy’s father said his son was accused of urinating on the toilet floor by his class teacher before he was forced to kneel down and lick the wet ground.
The family said the incident has left their son traumatised.
The 12-year-old pupil has since become withdrawn and is refusing to play outside.
The 42-year-old dad said the problem started when he received a call from the school principal calling for a meeting about his son’s behaviour:
“But I couldn’t go because I was busy with my studies,” he said.
“When my son got home, I asked him what the problem was.
“He told me that he was forced to lick urine off from the toilet floor after some boys went to tell the subject teacher that he had urinated on the floor.”
The father said that he went to the school the following day.
“Before the principal could explain anything she started scolding at me,” he explained.
“She treated me like a boy; she first told me that I was undermining the school rules.
“And she then told me that I behave the same way as my son, she couldn’t listen when I tried to explain that I was busy with my studies [and could not attend the meeting].”
The angry father added that he was told that his son would be suspended from school.
“But the suspension was later lifted after I promised to take the matter up with the department,” he said.
“And now the teacher has sent me a letter of apology.”
The Daily Voice has a copy of the letter, signed by the teacher.
It states: “I am sincerely sorry for overreacting and asking [the pupil] to do something inhumane by asking him to lick urine from the floor. This is totally unprofessional on my part. Sorry.”
The teacher added that he was the only teacher to 70 pupils for two consecutive days, and that he had to be very strict in order to maintain discipline.
The pupil’s father is now considering whether to accept the apology.
“I am very hurt about what happened to my son,” he said.
“Why would someone do this to a child? I now fear that the teacher may victimise him after this incident.”
Western Cape Education spokesman Paddy Attwell says his office is still investigating the alleged incident.
“Our information is that a learner reported that the boy concerned had urinated along the walls and floor of a cloakroom.
“The teacher concerned took the boy to the cloakroom to ask him to clean up.
“The boy denied the claim and said that he had only splashed water about.
“The teacher allegedly asked the boy that if this was true, whether he would put the liquid in his mouth.
“The boy then allegedly licked the floor.”
Attwell says the educator admitted that his conduct was inappropriate and has apologised.
“Our district office has sent their report to our Labour Relations directorate for further consideration,” said Attwell.
Daily Voice