Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Education Labour Relations Council (ERLC) has dismissed a Gauteng teacher for sexually harassing a pupil at school.
The council dealt with five allegations of sexual harassment levelled at the teacher.
The acts of sexual harassment were allegedly perpetrated against pupils at Voortrekkerhoogte High School, where the teacher worked for the past five years.
The teacher denied the allegations and told the council he was a “dedicated teacher”.
But testifying before the council, the school principal said she witnessed an incident on 26 May 2021 and wrote a report on it.
On that day, she heard a group of pupils in front of the teacher’s classroom while a dustbin was also set alight. The pupils demanded the removal of the teacher.
“The learners were complaining about sexual harassment, allegedly perpetrated by the employee,” she said.
The principal told the council one of the pupils accused the teacher of rubbing his crotch against her buttocks on 25 May 2021.
In her testimony, the pupil told the council she bent over to pick up her book to check what her next class would be when the teacher approached her and rubbed his crotch against her buttocks.
The pupil said she felt afraid, sad and depressed that the teacher took advantage of her. She added that she viewed the teacher as a father figure and found his conduct unexpected and improper. She said the teacher would look at her as if he was trying to look under her skirt with a creepy stare.
A male pupil, who was a member of the student representative council, told the council he witnessed the teacher rubbing his crotch against the female pupil.
He told the council:
He said he confronted the teacher, but he tried to silence him and said they should deal with the matter privately.
A second pupil said the teacher hugged her and squeezed her buttocks.
According to the principal, another pupil said the teacher told her that her legs were hairy and he was wondering how hairy her genitals were.
Another pupil said the teacher told her she was grown up and that he needed to take her to his house.
The pupils’ concerns and allegations were reported to the cluster leader at the Department of Education, and counselling was arranged for the pupils.
In response, the teacher denied the allegations and testified that he had a teacher-pupil relationship with the children. He said he was surprised about the allegations and felt he was being used as a punching bag.
The teacher said he did not know anything about the allegations and was only made aware of them when the principal called him to her office to hand him a letter on 9 June 2021.
He also denied sexually assaulting one pupil and touching and squeezing her genitals.
But the arbitrator found him guilty of committing an act of sexual harassment when he rubbed his crotch against the pupil’s buttocks.
“This act of sexual harassment is serious in nature and on its own irretrievably breaks down the employment relationship between the parties. The employee cannot be trusted to be in the vicinity of female learners at school, given his conduct.
The arbitrator said:
The arbitrator ruled that his employment contract should be terminated on 20 December 2022. The teacher will also be removed and deregistered as a teacher by the Department of Education.
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