Parents protest sex-for-marks in secondary school

Angry parents have shut down a school over allegations their children were being exploited by teachers for sex. The male teachers reportedly demanded sex for marks from the students.

The development, which happened at the Flagstaff Comprehensive High School in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, left one schoolgirl pregnant. Six teachers have been named to be culprits. They were also said to deliberately fail any girl who refused their demands.

A woman, Gloria Mdedelwa (61), who has two grandchildren at the school, told City Express said it’s been two weeks since teaching and learning stopped at the school after pupils discovered a pile of discarded school reports and marked exam papers in a ditch.

These, she said, showed that some pupils had in fact passed, while the reports they received at the end of last year showed that they had failed.

“When pupils, especially the female ones, came out during a parents’ meeting held after this discovery, pupils also revealed – to the shock of the parents – that some teachers demanded sex from them in exchange for good marks,” Mdedelwa said.

“This then meant that some pupils were made to fail on purpose just because they had refused to sleep with these teachers. That is when all hell broke loose. Parents fired the school governing body, and demanded that the school be closed, that the teachers be fired and for the department to intervene.”

Matric pupil Asiphe Dlingidlingi (18) said it was common knowledge that some of the teachers were having sex with their pupils.

“Everybody knows that this thing is happening. It has not happened to me personally, but some of my friends told me about being approached by a teacher who wanted to sleep with them. When they refused, he would threaten to fail them,” she said.