Independent Newspapers
File photo: Independent Newspapers
Durban – South Africa’s teachers are not being checked against a register specifically set up to protect children from criminal and sexual offenders.
In a response to a parliamentary question from the DA, it was revealed on Tuesday that the South African Council of Educators – the body responsible for registering teachers and “enhancing the status of the teaching profession” – had failed to screen potential teachers against the Child Protection Register, since its inception.
The register was created in conjunction with the Children’s Act of 2005 and lists people deemed unsuitable to have contact with children.
The DA’s spokesman on social development, Mike Waters, said the admission was concerning and could put pupils in danger.
“The register was established to protect children. The majority of teachers would never hurt a child, but there are some teachers who are not fit to be in the classroom,” said Waters.
Council chief executive Rej Brijraj admitted the council had not used the register when screening teachers, and had relied on potential teachers to make a declaration that they had never been found guilty of a criminal offence.
“Until recently the council felt the declaration was sufficient,” said Brijraj.
He said the council had recently held meetings with the Department of Social Development to address the issue of background checks, and was committed to screening all future teachers against the register, as well as carrying out criminal checks.
He said all teachers in public and private schools would be rechecked against the register.
Section27 spokeswoman Nikki Stein said there were cases in which teachers had been found guilty of misconduct, only to take up a post at another school. The register could address this.
But Stein said the register was not updated regularly.
“A lot of cases go unreported, and the procedures surrounding investigations are complex and often are not completed,” she said.
Department of Basic Education spokesman Panyaza Lesufi said he was reluctant to comment until he had been briefed by the council, but it would assist where necessary.
The register has come under the spotlight since it was reported in May last year that despite almost 20 000 cases of child abuse being reported since 2010, fewer than 500 people had been added to the list of those not fit to be in contact with children.
The Mercury
* If you use Gmail to read IOL’s newsletters, note that Google is rolling out a new tabbed inbox that filters your mail into 5 separate tabs – Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates and Forums. IOL emails will probably be sent to the “Promotions” tab instead of the “Primary” tab. If you don’t want it that way, drag the newsletter from the Promotions tab to the Primary tab. An alert will pop up. Click “yes” and your newsletters will continue to go to your Primary inbox.
