Urine attack on teacher exposes near anarchy at Joburg primary school

Beyond disgusting, urine attack highlights fish rotting from head as school in mess and principal fails to maintain firm grip on pupils. It is beyond disgusting that a primary school pupil can throw urine over a school teacher in class – but it is appalling that the Gauteng department of education (GDE) has, apparently not only done little about the incident, but also about the greater state of near-anarchy in that school. The South African Teachers’ Union (SAOU) was called to the Laerskool Generaal De La Rey in Johannesburg after its members teaching there reported what they say is a hostile and unsafe working environment. The incident with the urine involved a Grade 7 pupil and took place in class. The teacher, a woman, said she was shocked and felt violated by the attack, according to SAOU spokesperson Dems Nel. He said that, in another case of indiscipline at the school, a pupil had been found with a dangerous object. It goes without saying that this school is in a mess and that makes it difficult to understand why GDE has, seemingly, been dragging its feet when dealing with the situation. Nel claimed that one department official had told teachers they must deal with it themselves. Because of that couldn’t-care attitude, the union has laid grievance complaints with the GDE. But we think more needs to be done. There must, first of all, be a thorough investigation into how the school is being run. From the outside, we wonder if this is not a case of the fish rotting from the head because the principal does not have a firm grip on the pupils. We also urge the union to consider laying formal criminal charges because the urine incident is either crimen injuria or assault – or both. Taking that step would underline the seriousness of the case. But parents must also be read the Riot Act because they are the ones who raise such antisocial and violent young people.