A teacher allegedly hit and injured a learner of Berts Bricks Primary School on Wednesday, 7 April. A group of learners were standing outside the teacher’s classroom and allegedly made a noise during a lesson. When she stormed out to reprimand them, she allegedly hit each learner on the hand with a stick instead of scolding them. “My hands were in my pockets and she insisted that I take them out, ”the injured learner said. The teacher did not realise that she had injured the learner until another teacher took the child to the principal’s office. To make matters worse, the school did not call the mother in after the incident; she got calls from witnesses. “I received a call from one of the teachers, informing me of what had happened,” the mother said. “Since then, I have received countless anonymous tips to report the case,” she continued. When she found out, she immediately requested that the child goes to her place of work. She then noticed that the girl’s hand was swollen. “I wondered what she had done because she is such a sweet child,” the parent added. The following day, she went to the school to get clarity on what had transpired. “I initially tried to talk to the teacher calmly as a teacher myself,” the parent explained. “I had a conversation with the teacher while the principal was there; she agreed to take care of any costs related to my daughter’s injury,” she continued. “I don’t want her to lose her job; I just want her to acknowledge the damage she has caused and take accountability for what happened.” The teacher acknowledged her mistake and said she only uses the stick to scare the learners and that what had happened was not intentional. “I didn’t think anything drastic would happen as I was only trying to scare them away,” the teacher said. The teacher appears to be remorseful and has assisted with the medical costs and checks on the learner as far as possible. “She has been checking on me and ensuring that I take my medicine and massages my hand,” the learner said. According to both the learner and the parent, this isn’t the first time corporal punishment has taken place at the school. “Most, if not all the teachers, use corporal punishment to reprimand the children,” the parent added. “It is just unfortunate for them that this one case was reported.” The mother did her re- search, asking a few teachers, anonymously, why they still used corporal punishment. The main response was that the learners allegedly “only listen when they are punished physically”. The Herald asked the school and the Department of Education for comment, but none was forthcoming by the time of publication.