'Mommy, they make me sad, hurt, and angry' Mom speaks out against school bullying
The girls injuries in her face
Image: Supplied
For a 14-year-old Grade 8 learner from Belgravia High School in Athlone, the excitement of starting high school was supposed to be a fresh chapter filled with opportunity and new beginnings. Instead, her year has been marked by repeated bullying that her mother said has left her daughter bruised both physically and emotionally.
This is one of 69 bullying cases reported across Western Cape schools since the beginning of the schooling year.
The girl's mother, 53, said the bullying started in the first term and snowballed as the months went by. Despite her daughter filling out incident reports, one even allegedly completed by a teacher, nothing was done to address the situation.
"I didn't know about these reports, and she didn't tell me, because she thought the principal would address it.”
The mom said she only learnt about the two prior bullying incidents a week before August 13th, when there was another incident.
“I then sent the school an email, which they did not receive. I left it thinking that my daughter would be safe and had the faith that there wouldn't be bullying incidents anymore.”
However, on 13 August, matters came to a head inside the girl's classroom. The learner was allegedly taunted by another girl, who touched her hair, picked at her jacket, and moved her stationery. When she tried to push the girl’s arm away, she was scratched so badly in her face that she bled.
“The teacher and learners were in the class, and only when they saw blood did they separate them,” the mother said.
“When I came to the school, my child broke down. I just held her. Praise the Lord it wasn’t worse, but bullying has its effects mentally.”
She said she was shocked to hear from the principal that they were unaware of the previous reports her daughter had submitted.
“This could’ve been prevented when my child first filled out her incident report,” she said. “The principal tried to justify it by saying not everyone is raised the same or in the same household. I said no, whoa, stop, raising my hand, that’s not what I want to hear. There’s no justification for my child being bullied.”
The incident left the Grade 8 learner with deep scratches in her face that required injections, antibiotics, and a J88 form for injuries. Yet, her mother said the school only contacted her weeks, on 8 September, almost a month of silence, to set up a meeting.
Feeling unsupported, she turned to a personal therapist for help. There, she learned that schools are obligated to provide counselling and that she could request for her daughter to be moved to another class. “I trusted the teachers and the school that my child was safe. But everything just went quiet.
"And I also want to make it clear, if the tables were turned and my child was the bully I would have made just as much of a noise, I believe there are consequences to your actions and when you are wrong you are wrong."
The child had scratches in her neck as well
Image: Supplied
For the teenager, who the mom describes as an introvert, the bullying has been particularly painful. “She tells me, 'mommy, they make me sad, hurt, and angry, but I am okay'.”
Still, her mother remains determined. “I will fight for my children. I will go to the highest for my daughter. I just don’t want her to end up a statistic.”
Bronagh Hammond, spokesperson for the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), confirmed that the matter had been investigated at the school level, with a disciplinary hearing scheduled for next week.
She said 69 cases of bullying had already been reported to the WCED’s Safe Schools Centre in the first two terms of the year.
“School psychological services, school social work services, and Safe Schools programme respond to all learner referrals that were affected by incidents of bullying in schools,” Hammond said.
“District-based support teams visit the schools and determine an intervention support programme for both the victim(s) and the alleged perpetrators.”
She added that the WCED runs numerous anti-bullying initiatives, from campaigns and conferences to advocacy on cyberbullying, as well as offering parents and learners access to the Safe Schools hotline (0800 45 46 47). Other emergency support services include the South African Depression and Anxiety Group’s 24-hour helpline (0800 12 13 14) and suicide emergency number (0800 567 567).
“Schools must address bullying, including cyberbullying, in their school code of conduct,” Hammond said. “If learner behaviour is inconsistent with the Code of Conduct, then disciplinary action could be taken against them.”
tracy-lynn.ruiters@inl.co.za