The Western Cape Education Department says it opened 120 disciplinary cases involving allegations of assault against educators during the 2025/26 financial year. The figure has put renewed focus on corporal punishment in schools, especially after a fresh case emerged in Mitchells Plain involving a Grade 7 learner.

According to Cape Argus, the latest allegation centres on a teacher at West End Primary School who was arrested and charged last month after claims surfaced that a learner was smacked three times on the back of the head in February. The teacher cannot be named and has already appeared in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court.

Teacher denies allegation as case heads to court

The teacher has denied assaulting the learner. Speaking to Cape Argus, the educator said: “I did not smack the child. I pushed him on the head.” The teacher also said the matter would be communicated with the Western Cape Education Department and SADTU, but could not discuss the merits of the case because it is now before court.

Police spokesperson Thembakazi Mpendukana confirmed that Lentegeur police registered an assault case linked to an incident on school premises in Mitchells Plain and that an adult suspect was arrested. That means the matter is now unfolding on both a criminal and administrative level.

Another school case has already raised an alarm

The Mitchells Plain case follows another recent arrest involving a 60-year-old teacher at Zeekoevlei Primary School. Cape Argus reported that the assault charge there relates to alleged corporal punishment after a Grade 4 learner was allegedly hit with a duster. The school’s governing body said it would provide an update on that matter.

WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the department is investigating the latest allegation through its Directorate: Employee Relations. She said the outcome of the internal probe will determine whether there are grounds to charge the educator and pursue further disciplinary action formally.

Corporal punishment remains banned in South Africa

Hammond stressed that the department treats allegations of corporal punishment or assault seriously. She said the WCED’s “Abuse No More” protocol defines corporal punishment broadly, including spanking, slapping, pinching, paddling or hitting a child with a hand or object. Cape Argus also noted that corporal punishment was abolished in South Africa in 1996.

NAPTOSA provincial CEO Riedwaan Ahmed said the increase in assault matters is alarming and suggests current efforts by labour and the education department are not having the desired effect. He said educators are repeatedly encouraged to find alternatives to corporal punishment. The message from the latest figures is blunt: the ban has been in place for decades, but the problem has not disappeared.