THE alleged bullying incident at a prestigious Johannesburg girls' school took a new twist this week when the parents of one of the learners took the school to court for trying to force their daughter out of the institution in the middle of the academic year.
Roedean School for Girls, which obtained a 100% matric pass rate last year, tried to terminate its contract with the parents of the 12-year-old girl (whose name has been withheld because she is a minor) implicated in the alleged bullying incident last November at the end of the first term of this academic year. The provincial department of education has condemned the move.
Last year, three children – one of them the child of a senior government spokesperson, and another of a celebrity Johannesburg couple – were accused of bullying, manipulating, tormenting and taunting a new girl at the school.
A number of parents have made claims of bullying against the celebrity couple’s daughter. One child’s parents, who were unhappy with what they claimed was the school’s inaction over the bullying, took their daughter out of the school.
The new girl was apparently contemplating suicide because of the bullying.
But the school subjected the three girls to a grilling by a social worker without their parents’ consent, and without the parents being present at the interrogation.
This week the school failed to answer 16 detailed questions sent to them about the alleged incident and the latest developments.
However, the school board issued a press statement confirming that “a court application has been brought against Roedean School by a parent aggrieved by the decision of Roedean School to terminate the parent contract with their family during January 2023”.
The statement added that the termination “arises from the incident at the school on the 25th of November 2022 involving the affected parent in conduct which Roedean School considered to be in breach”.
The school also explained that an agreement was reached to allow the 12-year-old girl “to remain at the school pending the outcome of the court application”.
The board had sent the parents a notice on January 11 this year, as well as a letter on March 31, notifying them of the termination of their contact with the school.
The parents then took the matter to court, accusing the school of violating their child’s rights by disrupting her academic year by leaving her without a school.
The provincial department of education also intervened and had a meeting with the school board on April 26 in an attempt to persuade Roedean School to reverse the decision to terminate the contract, but the school refused.
It was then that the parents took the matter to court.
A source with intimate knowledge claims the 12-year-old girl is the victim of a squabble between her parents, a former board member, and a telecommunications executive whose company or subsidiary allegedly made a donation to Roedean School.
The school failed to answer questions about the alleged donation.
“The girl is being punished for the sins of her parents. She is a victim of circumstance, and this has nothing to do with the alleged bullying incident. You can see from the school press statement (that) the board says this has something to do with her parents’ behaviour at the school in November, and not with the girl’s alleged bullying incident,” the source, who asked not to be named, said.
The school also failed to answer the question of why the girl appears to have been punished for her parents’ behaviour and not her actions.
Edward Mosuwe, the head of the department of education in Gauteng, sent the school board a letter, seen by The Sunday Independent, last month in which he lambasted the school for handling the matter not “in accordance with the principles of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa”.
“This expulsion emanates from how this case was handled by the school, which was not in the best interests of all children involved,” Mosuwe wrote.
He added that it was his responsibility as the head of the department “to protect the school from public scrutiny that may result from this situation”.
“Most importantly, as an accounting officer it is my duty to protect the right to education of every child, including making sure that the interests of (the 12 -year-old girl) and all other learners involved are upheld and protected,” Mosuwe stated in his letter.
He ordered the school “to set aside the removal” of the girl from the school, as he had appointed an independent investigation team “to assess this matter and provide a proper report with clear recommendations, after which the matter can be properly concluded”.
The girl was allowed to return to school this week. Her parents refused to comment on the matter.
“We can’t talk about this case, as the matter is now in court,” the girl’s mother said yesterday.
Panyaza Lesufi, the former Gauteng education MEC and now the premier of the province, said yesterday that the rights of all learners must be protected, and that he therefore supported the establishment of an independent team to investigate the matter.
“I established a team to investigate this matter. I am fully aware of the matter as a former MEC of education,” Lesufi said.