Saturday, 15 December 2007

Child Sodomised At Pietermaritzburg School - Headmaster does nothing - AGAIN!!!

Pupil Sodomised Northern Park Primary School, PMB - Headmaster does nothing - YET AGAIN!
Child sodomised by classmate - NATAL WITNESS REPORTER05 Dec 2007
MTHOBISI MAKHATHINI
A six-year-old Pietermaritzburg pupil is afraid to go back to school next year after he was allegedly sodomised at school, had a pair of scissors held to his neck and was pushed down the stairs by schoolmates, resulting in an injury to his head. The six-year-old boy, who attends Northern Park Primary, was sodomised by his classmate in the school toilets early one morning in July. His mother alleged that the school principal made no effort to sort the matter out. “The principal only said he was sorry that this had happened to my child. He failed to contact the aggressor’s parents,” she said. She said because her son felt intimidated by the boy’s presence in class, she asked the principal to move the offender to another classroom. She said the principal said this could not be done because the culprit would victimise other children. “So it’s alright if he victimises mine. My child had to take ARVs for a month and had to go for an HIV/Aids test after three months. All these things traumatised him because he kept asking why the doctors are drawing blood from him,” she said.In November, the boy was threatened with a pair of scissors by a schoolmate, who held the scissors to his neck. The teacher in charge of aftercare intervened immediately and brought the two boys to the office. The six-year-old’s mother said she was not contacted by the school regarding the incident. “I heard from my son in the afternoon that he was almost stabbed with scissors at school. I inquired at the school about the incident and they wrote a letter of apology. I have to be worried because nowadays children die at schools because of stabbing,” she said.On a third occasion, the boy was allegedly pushed down the stairs by another pupil and injured his head.His mother appealed to the KZN Education Department to find him a new school.KZN Education spokeswoman Christi Naudé said officials have been sent to the school to investigate the allegations. “The incidents raised by The Witness were broadly confirmed, but differ in respect of the manner in which these were managed. The principal advises that the learner in question is a lively child who presents a number of challenges in terms of behaviour,” she said. Naudé said the department’s psychological services have been working with both children and guiding the school in handling the matter. The Child Protection Unit have also been consulted. She said the department will assist in finding a new school for the boy. mthobisi@witness.co.za


MY COMMENT:::


Yes, I have on many previous occasions been in touch with Northern Park Primary School, Kevin Marais (the headmaster) and various so-called "educators" - none of which I believe should be left in charge of little children, and I was quite open and honest in informing them face-to-face and in writing of my fears and feelings about their incompetence. I removed my child from this very school some years back after yet another little girl was raped - this time by an employee of the school. I reported the abuse and victimisation of my child (by her own teacher) to the headmaster, the Education Department and even Child Welfare. Nothing was ever done. Forget the fact that my child spent 3 weeks in hospital with prenumonia on the most aggressive drugs available in the country - as a direct result of her teacher's abuse!

The perpetrator of the rape of this little grade 3 girl in the toilets of the school was publicly given a vote of confidence by Kevin Marais in a school meeting - because although said perpetrator had been charged, he had not been convicted. What?????????????????????

Do people still question the motives of concerned parents who opt to homeschool their children? Would you want your child to be in the "custody" of incompetents like this?

In days gone by Northern Park Primary School was a well-to-do school in the northern suburbs of Pietermaritzburg.

Bill Lombard was a great headmaster and loved by parents, teachers and pupils. Kevin Marais has done nothing to instil confidence in the parents of his abilities to run the school, sort out the wheat from the chaff and take control of what is rapidly turning into a war zone... Standard 3 boys with knives slashing teacher tyres at lunch time.

Shame on you Kevin Marais for turning a blind eye yet again!
Shame on the Education Department for doing nothing.
Shame on Ina Cronje for having the gall to criticise Homeschooling parents - when this is the alternative...

And believe me, we pay dearly for it, not only financially but at the cost of our children. To all the "older" educators out there, move with the times, don't worry only that you'll get your pensions out. Concern yourself with the education and safety of our children. They are entrusted to your care. We were forced previously to entrust them to your care...

Thank God for the Constitution!

4 comments:

cleanlines said...

Hi Donnette,

I came across your blog after googling Northern Park - What a shocking story this is - I seem to remember a child being caught dealing drugs there last year.. I'm currently looking for a school to send my daughter to in Maritzburg - private school and home-schooling are not an option as I work full-time - if you have any advice (I know it's a bit of a cheek) but I'd be most grateful.. Wendy

Unknown said...

Hi Wendy, not a cheek at all, thank you for taking the time to read and comment.

This is an older post I posted some years back after a number of really violent attacks at this same school which as you know, is in the Northern Suburbs, and was once considered a really "eligible" school.

I'm afraid the news is not good. There are no schools that I would recommend in the PMB area that are not faced with serious challenges similar to the one you have mentioned, and/or rape/sodomy, or even parent confrontation and violence towards the teachers if they discipline a child. It is happening constantly and I don't think I'm too far off the mark to say it's a daily occurrence at least in one of the schools in the area.

Out of Private institutions the cheaper option, and there is still some discipline and standard, I would suggest Epworth. I choose this simply because it IS the cheapest private school that I investigated.

The other option is to make application (and I would suggest that this happens quickly) to Laddsworth Primary School in Hilton. It is still a small-ish school, so far no serious problems, classes are around 22-25. But one round trip would be around 60 KM - therefore 120 KM travelling a day which would be a problem if you are in PMB, but offer a brilliant aftercare facility.

Athlone Primary School used to be a top-notch school also but the prices are, like most public schools, almost prohibitive, theft is rampamt there as with anywhere and there was, last time I checked a waiting-list of about 3 years.

Very often we find that the administrators or Body Corporates have not moved with the times and that the "minority" end up subsidising the "majority" - so you end up paying for every single pencil or peice of paper (that you supplied in any event) 5000 times a term.

I know this is not the information that you would want to read but in all honestly, I HAVE investigated the education system widely not only in KZN but in SA and speak from a place of personal horrific experience.

Please feel free to contact me via email, and I will give you more information and possbly a few more suggestions as to how to get around this difficulty.

Bottom line is that within a public school situation the child is receiving on average ONE HOUR instruction a week, the rest of the time is taken up doing things that do not form part of learning curriculum. Intimidation and serious theft is something you will find in all of the schools. Only the severity differs.

Homeschooling allows for as many hours a day or night as you and/or your child can put in to it. There is curriculum available, although I do not endorse any of those available for personal reasons, also after thorough investigation.

My daughter works according to a curriculum we have created and I use the UK Maths Curriculum (Which I can let you have for free) which is in any event 2-3 years ahead of SA Maths. We focus on what interests her and create unit studies, do testing, she is "fun" learning 12+ hours a day.

Sadly our education problems for 2010 have only just commenced, with educators threatening more strikes etc - we all remember what happened a few years ago during the matric trials and the fatalities, injuries and assaults, intimidation etc. that were caused.

PLEASE get in touch with me via email and I will give you my contact numbers and I'll provide you with as much information as I possibly can to help you make an informed decision that works for you and your family.

I'm going to transfer this post also to my Wordpress blog.

Wishing you the best of everything Wendy, I don't doubt we'll get this sorted out for you :)

Best
Donnette

Anonymous said...

Hi Donnette
I'm the author of the article whilst working as The Witness journalist in 2006-2007, I'm now with eThekwini Communications Unit. I would like to commend you on the good job you are doing and pray that those in charge of our education system here our cries and fix the situation. Our children spend most of their time at school, now if they not happy there because of victimisation and so on- where should we take them? I went to Alexandra High 1995-1999, while I enjoyed my stay there- the same issues of harassment, theft and so on occuring- and this should not be tolerated. Wish u all the best for the future.
Cheers
Mthobisi Mack Makhathini

Unknown said...

Hi Donnette

We came across this story while looking for details on Northern Park Primary. We are the Concerned Parents Group (www.ctmiconcernedparents.com)and are concerned about a church affiliated to CTMI meeting at this school. This group has already been evicted from Pinetown Boys High and two hotels in the Highway area because of the bad publicity associated with them. (Carte Blanche and a number of press articles, East Coast Radio interviews and international theology podcast). When we contacted the headmaster to ask about informing the Governing Body about the facts related to the group meeting in their school, he simply referred us to the school's lawyer!!?? We wondered why? It seems from your blog that there is some history that causes this defensiveness!