HELP US HELP YOUR KIDS!

This headmaster has had enough of learners' bad behaviour since lockdown ended, so he's written a stern letter to parents asking for their support

- COLIN HENDRICKS

IN the long, dark days of lockdown, school playgrounds were deserted, classrooms empty, and not a teacher or learner was in sight.

But now that the worst of the pandemic appears to be over, it's supposed to be business as usual for schools across the country.

Yet things are far from normal, says Dorian Meyer (59), the head teacher at Cloetesville High School in Stellenbosch.

Since learners have returned to school full-time, they've been creating havoc for him and his staff - from verbal abuse to sexual harassment and even threats of violence.

Dorian recently decided enough was enough. He sat down and wrote a letter to parents and he didn't beat about the bush.

"Our personnel are experiencing daily verbal abuse from pupils - girls as well as boys. Some learners are making terrible comments to educators which hurts them deeply and borders on harassment and threats of violence in one form or another," he writes.

Fights between pupils "have increased 500%", he adds.

Experts and educational bodies say Dorian isn't alone in having to deal with unruly schoolkids in the wake of lockdown.

Professor Siphiwe Mthiyane from the education faculty at the University of Pretoria says teachers "are fed-up as they believe the measures to combat serious ill-discipline in schools aren't working".

"In some cases, the failure of schools to manage ill-discipline breeds more ill-discipline and other forms of violence such as bullying," he says.

Anel Annandale, an educational psychologist, has been inundated with calls from parents seeking help for, among other things, children's behavioural problems.

"I've had a 30% increase in enquiries after Covid. There are children who are struggling because they aren't used to the social interaction."