The Gauteng Department of Education has launched an investigation into circumstances that led to a 17-year-old pupil being locked up in a school sick room and left there for more than 12 hours until her desperate parents found her lying there unconscious.
The mother of the grade 10 pupil, Thandi Maphalala, alleged that her daughter, who collapsed just before class started at 8am at Minerva Secondary School in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, was sent to the sick room in a wheelchair on July 15.
“I thought my daughter was dead,” said Maphalala.
She said her daughter has a medical condition that causes her to faint or lose consciousness and that the school has been informed about it.
Maphalala said she and her husband Wandisile Tshica went to search for her daughter when she failed to return from school. “We went to look for her at the school after 4pm. The caretaker told us there were no children at the school,” she said.
They returned to the school at around 6pm. “The principal was in her office with two other women. We asked to search the classes and the school grounds but didn’t find her,” she said.
Maphalala alleged the principal, Nontsikelelo Tsatsi, advised them to look for her daughter at the clinic but they did not find her there. Their search took them to Edenvale Hospital and Alexandra police station. She even asked a neighbour who works at Charlotte Maxeke
Academic Hospital in Johannesburg for help.
Maphalala said one of her daughter’s classmates told them she had collapsed at school and had been taken to a sick room.
They went back to the school at about 8.45pm and demanded the caretaker open the sick room where they found her.
“My daughter had been lying on that bed alone, sick and locked up for more than 12 hours. Why didn’t the teacher call us? Why didn’t the principal, whose office is directly opposite the sick room, call us? Why did she send us on a wild goose chase to look for our daughter?
“My daughter could have died. She was cold and unconscious [when we found her]. We rushed her to Masakhane Clinic, where she was resuscitated,” she said.
She was referred to Edenvale Hospital for further treatment.
The Gauteng Department of Education said it was investigating the incident.
“We are deeply saddened by this incident and have launched an investigation. Necessary actions will be taken based on the findings,” said spokesperson Steve Mabona. He said psycho-social support would be provided to the pupil and her family.
