Enraged School Head Locks Parents Inside School Premises

Onalenna Kelebeile | Monday May 29, 2017 16:14

It is reported this week that immediately the school time clocked, the school head locked the gate while some parents were still inside only for a taxi man to force his way out dislodging the school gate in the process.

The police were called to the scene immediately whereupon a meeting was held between the devastated parents and the school head. The issue was discussed inside the school offices, where it is reported that the parties at the end reconciled.

While it is reported that the school head maintained that she was enforcing punctuality on the side of parents, on the other hand the school head’s conduct was uncalled for as she does not have the right to kidnap parents while she could have used alternative methods of dealing with the situation that day.

One of the enraged parents said the fact that only one side of the gate was opened for use by both the incoming and outgoing vehicles also caused a delay and created unnecessary traffic by the school gate.

According to the acting chief education officer Kenneth Mogapi, the school head explained that she was enforcing punctuality in the school. He however, said that the school head could have engaged alternative means of addressing the issue.

“I have been told that apparently there was a meeting the previous week in which the school management expressed displeasure over late coming,” he said. 

He explained that the school head’s version after he summoned her to his office was that a student was initially asked to close down the gate, but was overpowered by parents and that is when the school head came with a padlock and locked the gate.

He regretted that the incident has the potential to dent the good parents/teachers relationship that Selebi-Phikwe schools are known for.

“My office is fully aware of the incident and we regret it. I have shown the school head that she could have handled the incident differently,” he said.