JOHANNESBURG - A high school in Cosmo City has denied expelling a 16-year-old pupil after he returned from initiation school.
The teenager’s parents allege their son was discriminated against when he was not allowed to return to school after coming back at the beginning of August.
However, Cosmo City Secondary School principal Eddie Maota denies the allegations and says the teenager was not expelled.
The Grade 9 pupil allegedly left the school on 8 April, saying he was going for initiation. Initiation is generally conducted during the June school holidays to ensure the academic year is not disrupted.
The teenager, however, returned to school four months after leaving.
“This child is repeating Grade 9. He is in Grade 9 and is repeating the grade,” Maota said.
The teenager also missed his mid-year examinations during his absence and returned towards the end of the third term.
The boy’s aunt, Darkie Tshungulwane, told eNCA she was angry that the authorities brought in to adjudicate the matter sided with the principal.
“They just went along with the principal that he knows nothing, but he knows the student’s mother,” she said.
“He says he didn’t chase him away. If he didn’t chase him away, why is he sitting at home?” she asked.
The Gauteng Legislature’s Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Committee says schools and traditional authorities need to work together to prevent learners from missing significant periods of the school year.
“We will need to speak to traditional authorities to make sure we accommodate the school calendar, so that children don’t miss school,” said Gauteng COGTA spokesperson Ntsako Mogobe.
“It must not be for this long. Four months is a lot, and we cannot be happy with that,” he added.
Ikosi Paulus Skhosana says this is not a new practice and that schools should provide extra classes to help learners catch up.
“Some children go to the initiation school at the last minute,” he said.
COGTA has urged the school to assist the pupil in catching up on the work he missed.