Jailing parents if pupils go missing ‘harsh’

PARENTS and pupils reacted with shock to new Gauteng Department of Education legislation aimed at jailing or fining parents who refuse to send their children to school.

The law is aimed at parents who are repeat offenders, and who ignore warnings about their children’s absence or who prevent them from going to school, said the department.

Tiffany Mccullough, of HR Manager, an outdoor advertising company, said parents sometimes did not know what their children were doing.

“Children do a lot of things without their parents’ knowledge, and when you leave your child at school, you do so in great hope that they are there to learn and not be rebellious. How will I as a parent be responsible for my child’s actions while they are in someone else’s care?”

Another parent, Julie Naidoo, said parents should be responsible for their child’s whereabouts.

“It’s really unfortunate that a lot of the parents cannot take their children from home to school and from school back home to monitor their movements. I, however, think teachers should also play a role in ensuring that they constantly communicate with the parents of the kids.”

Ferndale High School pupil André Mthembu, 17, welcomed the legislation, saying it would give parents a greater responsibility.

“It will mean that parents will now know about what their children get up to. It’s just really unfortunate if, for instance, my parents get arrested because they are unaware that I or one of my other siblings is not attending school.”

Minister of Public Enterprises Malusi Gigaba, who was shopping for school stationery, said yesterday: “I think what the government is trying to do is to build a healthy relationship between teachers, learners and parents. I see nothing wrong in parents being arrested if they are not being responsible, because at the end of the day, parents should know where their children are.”

Donna Steenkamp, a recent immigrant, was impressed.

“I officially moved here in August last year with my two girls, who will be starting school soon… The government of SA is taking a stand on what is important: kids need to be put on the straight and narrow in order to have the right mindset in preparing them for the real world.”

PICTURES: TIMOTHY BERNARD IN THE DARK: Julia Naidoo does the last bit of stationery shopping for her daughter in Cresta, Joburg, yesterday and was unaware of the new legislation that could see parents facing jail time for their children’s absenteeism from school.

DISCIPLINARIAN: Donna Steenkamp, who recently moved from Colorado to SA and had been involved with teaching in the US, says “it is crazy that parents might not even know that their children are bunking”. Her daughter Lindsay says a pupil who does not...