Judge throws out Ballito school drug case
Schools to take a critical look into their own codes of conduct.
After being expelled for allegedly testing positive for drugs, a grade eight boy has been allowed to return to a Ballito school after the Durban High Court ruled that the correct procedures to discipline and expel the pupil were not followed.
Judge Cassim Sardiwalla said yesterday that according to the Ashton International College’s code of conduct, a disciplinary tribunal had to consist of members of management or part of management of the school, while in this case only one person, who was independent, conducted the hearing.
This comes after the boy’s mother launched an application to have her son reinstated after she said in her affidavit that the school’s conduct was unlawful.
This ruling will have other schools double-checking their drugs policy and codes of conduct, as Judge Sardiwalla said the process followed by Ashton was “flawed”.
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