Corpun file 26690 at www.corpun.com
Times of Swaziland, Mbabane, 2 August 2017
We're stripped, caned with a plank -- Salesian pupils
By Jabulisa Dlamini
MANZINI -- Stripped and caned with a plank. That is the torture that Salesian High School pupils are alleged to be exposed to from teachers.
Salesian is an all boys school within the country's hub. The pupils alleged that before being beaten, they are told to pull down their school pants and underwear, and then thrashed on the buttocks.
These allegations were reported to this publication by parents and the affected pupils.
Some of the disgruntled pupils alleged their teachers caned them on their buttocks using a plank and a piece of piping that is used to connect the big gas cylinders to stoves.
They are then beaten on their bare buttocks.
Such punishment has sparked outrage from parents who have alleged that enquiring about such had led to so much victimisation of their children to the point that they decided to let things be.
"When such incidents occur at the school, who do you report to as the pupils are pointing at the administration? This is saddening because our children are even scared of reporting such incidents. I saw my child while he was inside the bathroom and he was badly scarred. When I asked him what had happened, he told me that he had been whipped at school by one of the teachers. He further advised me not to go to the school as he feared being victimised or sent home," a parent who did not want to be named, said.
Most of the pupils revealed that they had been given lashes for 'no valid' reasons.
They alleged that late coming, eating sweets while at the school premises and being found in wrong buildings among other things, were some of the misdemeanours they were punished for at the school.
"When you are late by five minutes, it is better to just go back home because you will be severely punished. I was recently punished after I was found by one of the teachers studying inside the laboratory. This was after I decided to leave one noisy class as I could not concentrate," a pupil, who was struck on the buttocks, said.
The pupils claimed that they were scared to report the incidents as the school administration did not bother addressing the issues with their parents.
© Times of Swaziland.
