The parents of two grade 1 pupils at Endulweni Primary School claim their children are being treated unfairly by their class teacher.
Ms Momo Zondo, the mother of a six-year-old child, said her child urinated in his pants after being denied permission to go to the bathroom.
“When I arrived at the school, I had to fetch my child from the classroom as he was too embarrassed to leave. When I asked him what had happened, he told me his teacher had not allowed him to go to the bathroom,” said Ms Zondo.
According to Ms Zondo, this is not the first incident to happen to her child at the school. In a previous incident, her son returned home with one of his teeth knocked out. She went to the school to find out what had happened and was told to ignore the situation, as the child who had struck her son was a troubled orphan.
“I wonder what will be the next thing to happen to my child?” she asked.
Ms Zondo claimed to have reported the incidents to the school principal. “The principal kept on postponing our meetings, saying he had other meetings to attend,” said Ms Zondo.
Mr Patric Mokuni, the father of a six-year-old girl in the same class, said his daughter also soiled herself during class.
“After the class, my daughter tried to clean herself in the school’s bathroom. She even flushed her underwear down the toilet. She then tried to use her jersey to clean herself, but she had to wear the jersey to come home. The other pupils followed her home, laughing at her the whole time,” said Mr Mokuni.
“My daughter was too scared to go back to school the next day,” he said.
Mr Mokuni believes pupils not being allowed to go to the bathroom could be detrimental to the health and well-being of pupils.
“I do not blame my daughter for what happened, as she felt intimidated and humiliated. It is unacceptable for teachers to deny pupils the right to use the bathroom,” he said.
“A pupil’s attention will be focussed on the discomfort from a full bladder,” he added.
Endulweni Primary School’s principal, Mr Moses Khoele, said he met with the parents last Friday to discuss the issues.
“No child is refused the right to use the toilet in my school,” said Mr Khoele.
“We only received the one complaint from Mr Zondo, where her child wet himself in class. We are unaware of the other incident,” he said.
Mr Khoele said there are some parents who are over-protective of their children, but who never attend parent meetings.
“Some parents do not want to follow the orders we give them,” said Mr Khoele.
“They do not help us with their children. Some parents dump their children at school when they are sick or have upset stomachs without notifying us,” he added.
According to Mr Khoele, it is in these situations where you would find a child soiling themselves in class.
“We always encourage parents to help us with their children, but some do not bother at all. With the issue of Ms Zondo, we agreed to deal with Ms Zondo’s mother, the child’s grandmother, as we could not bear to be disrespected by young mothers,” said Mr Khoele.
