South African studies, such as those by Harber and Mncube (2017), Moletsane & Mitchell (2018) and Morrell, Bhana & Hamlall (2012), assert that structures within schools are heavily influenced by patriarchal notions of control and discipline that endow teachers with
institutional powers which determine and reinforces the authoritarian relationship between the teacher and the learner. Connell (2002) explains that such authority is embedded in the patriarchal notion of power that exists in individuals, structures and institutions. Schools thus
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serve as institutions where teachers’ responsibility is exercised through authority and power, even within the classroom, where the teacher is outnumbered (Morrell, 2001). Morrell further argues that such binary positioning of teachers and learners sustains power relationships by allowing teachers to inflict verbal and even physical and violent disciplinary measures on their learners despite its prohibition. Studies (Dunne, Humphreys & Leach, 2003;
Humphreys, 2008) support that such positioning places girls as objects to be manipulated within the school, explaining that when teachers instill discipline, it is located within the same asymmetrical power relations that underpin the sometimes excessive and draconian measures of punishment that some teachers employ. According to Humphreys, corporal punishment also serves as a socialization process that reinforces obedience, passivity and tolerance of violence in girls. Dunne et al. (2003) further identify additional practices of gender violence like unsolicited touching and grabbing of girls (and boys private parts), coercive sex and rape as manifestations of heterosexual violence in our schools.
Academic studies, and even reports such as Scared at School, do not reach the masses in South Africa. Rather, it is the media—newspapers, television news and social media—that has brought the phenomena of sexual violence and sexual abuse in both primary and high schools into the public arena:
In February, 2019, sexual assault claims lodged at Valhalla Primary School in Pretoria surfaced in media reports (Mahlokwane, 2019) and television news (eNCS, February 2019).
The reports stated that a 55-year-old male teacher was suspended from school after girls between 10 and 13 years old, in Grades 5, 6, and 7 reported that he had touched them inappropriately and indecently. According to the report, the alleged violations took place in 2018 but only came to light after Metro Police (South African Police Services) visited Valhalla Primary School to teach learners how to recognise sexual violence.
In 2017, a scholar patrol (believed to be in his late fifties and whom the children referred to as Malume (uncle in isiZulu), was charged with sexually molesting 54 school girls from Grade R to Grade 7 in AB Zuma Primary School, in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa (Mabuza, 2017). It was alleged that the guard violated the girls in his security guardhouse near the school’s gate, that he hit them on the buttocks and told them that he wanted to have sex with them. It was reported that the Principal learned of the abuse much earlier but asked the children to remain silent while the matter was investigated. The principal and her
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management team were subsequently suspended for failing to report the abuse. However, in 2018, the guard walked free because of errors, discrepancies, insufficient evidence and contradictions regarding the case. The presiding judge described the case as “a comedy of errors” saying that the ‘errors’ contaminated the girls’ testimonies.
These two reports resonate with Lynch et al. (2018) and the HRW report that emerged almost twenty years ago, highlighting the prevalence of sexual violence in our schools. However, whilst such explicit forms of sexual violence make headlines, other implicit forms of gender and sexual harassment go unnoticed.
1.3.1. Corporal punishment in schools
Notwithstanding South African laws which state that “everyone has the right not to be treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading way”, (The South African Constitution and the National Education Policy Act of 1996), statistics suggest that little headway has been made in reducing corporal punishment in schools (Burton and Leoschut, 2013, School violence in South Africa). The study showed that primary school learners (70%) were more likely to experience corporal punishment than high school learners (47%) in South African schools.
Furthermore, (73.7%) was observed in KwaZulu-Natal, the province in which my study is located (Geldenhuys & Doubell, 2011). In July 2013, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) raised concerns after receiving complaints about corporal punishment in schools across the country. They noted instances where learners were shamed, seriously injured, and that some even succumbed to their injuries.
Corporal punishment has been recognised as a form of gender violence in its use and in the meanings it holds for boys and girls. For example, boys are supposed to endure corporal punishment as a means of toughening them up in preparation for manhood, which entails being able to endure pain and violence, and girls are hit in order to suppress ‘unruly’
behaviour in them (Morrell, 2001). Boys also learn that violence is a tool for ensuring compliance and dominance, and girls learn that violence is necessary for passivity, submissiveness and compliance.
Incidents of corporal punishment in the primary school are usually silenced mainly because of the fear wielded by authoritarian figures. Learners, like the girls in this study, are often scared of the repercussions of challenging their teachers, hence they are silent about the
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punishments they receive. However recent media reports and social media have drawn attention to teachers’ use of corporal punishment. In 2017, a cell phone recording showing a girl being brutally beaten, caned and thrown about the classroom by her male teacher in Mdlamfe Secondary School in Esikhawini, KwaZulu Natal, received widespread attention (Hayden, 2017). The teacher was served with suspension papers. There was no explanation for the teacher’s behaviour. In 2018, seven teachers from Zamokuhle Primary School in KwaMashu, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal were accused of inflicting corporal punishment on learners (Vilakazi, 2018). According to the report, one of the teachers also hit a learner on his head with a coat hanger that resulted in an injury that required stitches. The teachers accused of corporal punishment were suspended pending further investigation.
1.3.2. Gendering the schooling curriculum
The curriculum has undergone major changes over time and now we are implementing the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). Educators grapple to keep abreast of the changes. A good example is the Life Orientation Learning area, which is aimed at developing the learner holistically. The aim is to empower the learner with skills, knowledge and values to make informed decisions regarding personal, health and social matters. However, studies have found that there is reluctance to implement the health aspect of Life Orientation because of a reluctance to discuss sexuality and matters related to sexuality with school children (Buthelezi et al., 2007). Buthelezi contends that the non-implementation of the Life
Orientation can be seen as a nuanced form of violence as it deprives leaners of knowledge, values and skills regarding sex and sexuality and thus leaves huge gaps in their knowledge, social skills, values and beliefs regarding matters such as safe sex and reproductive health.
This non-implementation is underscored by teachers’ power to determine the content of the Life Orientation programme they teach to the learners.
According to Dunne, Humphreys and Leach (2003) the failure to deliver sexual health and reproductive rights education to learners compromises their decision-making skills, especially concerning their sexuality and their ability to understand and implement safe sex related behaviour.