Doreen Mokgolo
She wore a beanie to school to cover the sores and blisters on her head.
When the 16-year-old’s history teacher saw this, he became furious and ordered her to remove it.
When she tried to explain, he would not hear any of it.
The learner From Izimisele Secondary in Ekurhuleni was dragged out of class by the teacher. And the humiliating video of her ordeal is being shared among her school mates.
The 16-year-old now says she would rather die than go back to school, unless she covers her head as she doesn’t want to be mocked by other learners.
When the teacher demanded she take off her beanie, she tried to explain why she couldn’t take it off. He marched to the back where she was seated and an argument over the hat ensued.
Her angry mother, Nomgcibelo Jiyane, said she received a call at work from her traumatised daughter.
“She explained what had happened, minutes later I received a call from my sister who asked me to go to Facebook and see that my daughter was trending,” she said.
The following day the mother went to the school to seek an explanation but in the meeting with the school principal the teacher refused to apologise.
“When I asked him why he was wearing the hat in class, yet he refused for the learners to wear theirs in this cold weather, he arrogantly told me that he is educated enough to wear his hat anywhere he liked.
“This infuriated me because my daughter was wearing the hat for a good reason, which he refused to entertain,” she said.
The mother now fears for her daughter’s life.
“She threatens that if she is forced to go back to the same school she will take her own life,” the mom said.
In their response, the Department of Basic Education’s spokesperson Steve Mabona said the department was “disappointed” by the incident.
“Our psycho-social unit has already been dispatched to the school to offer counselling and necessary interventions,” he said.
“The school interacted with the parent and counselling is being arranged for the learner as per request.”
