EWN reports that the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) warns that an increasing number of educators are abandoning the profession due to the rising tide of learner indiscipline and violence in schools.

The union’s concerns follow a report from the Western Cape Department of Education, which documented 96 incidents of learners assaulting teachers so far this year. Sadtu’s Nomusa Cembi emphasised that the union viewed any assault on an educator as a critical issue that threatened the stability of the schooling system.

In response to the growing safety crisis, Sadtu has approached the Department of Employment & Labour to advocate for a broadening of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA). The union wants the Act to explicitly cover teachers who fall victim to physical attacks in the classroom. Beyond the physical risks, the union highlighted the lack of adequate psychological support for victims. Cembi claimed that many assaulted teachers are currently forced to pay for their own trauma therapy, as existing government resources were often stretched thin.

• Read the full original of the short report in the above regard by Camray Clarke at EWN

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