The provincial department of education in Eastern Cape has suspended three educators from Alfred Nzo district municipality for alleged sexual misconduct.
Malibongwe Mtima, spokesperson for the department, said two of the three teachers were served with suspension letters on Friday while the other one received his on Monday.
“Education is based on trust between the teacher, parents and pupils. The reason we have suspended the three teachers is because they have betrayed that trust,” Mtima said.
“They are suspended pending investigations, because we want to establish the extent of the damage, for how long has this been happening, how many other victims [of sexual misconduct] are there and so on.”
He added that the parents and learners need to make it a habit to report such cases, saying keeping silent destroys the future of affected pupils.
“A team of psycho-social support has been activated and has started counselling and debriefing the victims, as one of them [a pupil] has attempted to commit suicide.
“Both the provincial and district offices are monitoring the situation and providing necessary support to prevent any loss of life due to this incident.”
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