TimesLIVE reports that a North West parent who assaulted a teacher with a "stick filled with sharp objects" after claiming her child had been abused, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on Monday.  

MEC for education in the province, Mmaphefo Matsemela, welcomed the sentence.  The incident took place in February at Leama Primary School, Tlhatlhaganyane Village, in the Moses Kotane local municipality.  The teacher sustained injuries to her head, elbow and fingers, one of which was fractured.  She is still attending physiotherapy sessions and reportedly also suffers from severe headaches.  The sentence handed by the Mogwase Magistrate's Court would "send a strong message to those who want to assault our teachers and learners", the education department remarked.  Matsemela said:  "This sentence will remind them that schools should be treated as centres of acquiring knowledge, not as war zones.  Our communities should always know that.  eachers are parents to the learners at school."

• Read the full original of the above short report by Nonkuleko Njilo at TimesLIVE

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