Pretoria – KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Mthandeni Dlungwana has cautioned all teachers who are involved with learners to stop breaking the law.
The MEC said teachers are expected to play a parental role at schools and not see learners as their partners which they can be romantically involved with.
He said this on Friday at the official handover of St Chads High School in Ladysmith. The school was built at a cost of R22 million.
MEC Dlungwana told the community members who had gathered at a marquee during the launch the department will do everything it can to ensure learners are protected.
“It is our duty as the department to ensure that learners are not abused by anyone in the schooling system.
“We also want to make it very clear that it is a dismissible offence for any teacher to be involved in a relationship with a learner. And any teacher who will be found to be in a relationship with a learner will have to face the full might of the law,” said MEC Dlungwana.
Recently, a teacher from Ndukende High School in KwaMaphumulo allegedly killed a learner and her mother at their home during holidays.
The teacher is said to have been in a relationship with the learner and they have a three-year-old child together.
He has since appeared in the Kranskop Magistrate’s Court and is facing two counts of murder.
The MEC challenged all teachers in the province to be passionate and driven by the desire to see their learners prosper.
“Whilst we condemn those teachers who might still be having learners as their sexual partners, I know for a fact that we have a number of teachers who are not doing anything that is untoward. We applaud such teachers,” he said.
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