Cape Town - An angry mother wants justice after a teacher used pepper spray on pupils at a primary school in Vredendal.
The woman said her son, who is in Grade 4, told her they were sprayed because of an eraser which was thrown in the classroom.
The incident occurred on May 17, at Vergenoeg Primary School in Vredendal North.
The teacher was facing the black board at the time and turned around and asked the pupils about it but no one answered.
“My son told me after the eraser was thrown the teacher asked who did that and no one answered.
“He was sitting with an asthmatic child in the front row. The teacher closed the door. At first she told the class she was looking for a lighter.
“I have no idea what she was going to do and thank God she didn’t find it. Maybe she was planning to burn the children.”
The mother said the teacher then took out the pepper spray.
“She asked again who threw the eraser, and then she started spraying the entire class. The boy who has asthma ended up confessing even though he didn’t do it, he just wanted the spraying to stop.”
The Vredendal North mother told the Cape Argus she went to the school to find out what happened but she was told to sweep the incident under the carpet.
“I told the school to take the case to the department and give the teacher some form of punishment. Instead, the teachers decided to further victimise the children, by calling them m**fies (f*gg*ts).
“They asked me not to open a case because I will be starting a fire and other parents will join and make this a big thing, but this is a big thing.
“This is not a joke, this is very serious because a learner could have reacted very badly to the pepper spray. Today it’s pepper spray and tomorrow a child is raped in school and they will expect us to keep quiet.”
The mother said the incident has left her very angry.
“She had no right to spray them with pepper spray. What if the children passed out? What would she have told us, the parents? Other parents are scared to stand up but I’m not because this has changed my child.
“He is a different person after the incident. The teachers told me he was withdrawn and refuses to do class work. I want the department to act. Children can’t be punished like this, it doesn’t matter what they did.”
Western Cape Education Department spokesperson Unathi Booi said the matter is being investigated and has been reported to their labour relations unit.
“It is reported by the school that no learners needed medical attention following the incident.”