Cape Town - Parents of a pupil at Blouberg Ridge Primary School have demanded a Grade 5 teacher be suspended after they were not satisfied with their child's assessment mark.
The parents said their child has been among the top achievers for the past terms, and has been performing very well, and accused the teacher of being negligent.
The mother, who did not want to be named for fear of her child being victimised, said they had to fight “tooth and nail” for a virtual meeting with the school, after receiving a series of excuses.
She said after they received the scripts, they had a few queries which she felt were not received well by the school.
Western Cape Education Department (WCED) spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the parent of the child wanted the school to change the learner's mark or for the assessment to be rewritten.
Hammond said if the marks were changed, that would be fraudulent. If the assessment was rewritten, the school would be found guilty of assessment irregularities.
EFF provincial spokesperson Wandile Kasibe called for a full investigation into the matter and immediate suspension of the teacher, and called for Education MEC Debbie Schäfer to investigate it.
Kasibe said it was unacceptable that both the teacher and the school would allegedly fail to do their duty to ensure that the learner performs to her best ability.
"Why did the teacher and the school principal fail to inform the parent of the learner immediately when they could see that the learner was not performing? Why did they refuse and delay to give the parent the report/transcript of the learner when the parent requested for that information several times?" asked Kasibe.
Hammond said the school has set up various engagements with the child’s parents to discuss the assessment, provided copies of the transcripts and discussed plans going forward to assist the learner in improving her results.
“Unfortunately, the aunt is not satisfied with this. The WCED supports the school in terms of not adhering to the request to rewrite the assessment or change the marks,“ said Hammond.
She said they were engaging with the school to ensure that the necessary support was given to the child going forward, and required the support of her family to ensure the best outcome. However, she said allegations against the teacher were unfounded.