A teacher is set to face the music after she allegedly forced a nine months pregnant pupil to sit on the cold cement floor for long periods as a punishment.

The teacher at Rivoni Secondary School in Daveyton, Benoni, allegedly also tried to force the pupil to do frog jumps and push-ups to punish her.

Now Gauteng department of education spokeswoman Phumla Sekhonyane said they will investigate the allegations.

Department of Basic Education spokesman Elijah Mhlanga condemned the teacher's alleged conduct, saying no pupil must be victimised for being pregnant.

"Under no circumstances should a learner be denied education whether they are one month pregnant, seven or nine months they must be allowed to study. That is why some of our learners give birth in the morning and come back to school in the afternoon to write a test or an exam because they have a right to an education," said Mhlanga.

The mother of the Grade 12 pupil said she learnt of the incident on Friday when her daughter came back complaining of severe back pains.

"We did not sleep on Friday as she was crying, complaining of back pains. She then told me her English teacher made her sit on the floor because she had failed to do her school work."

She said her daughter told her that there was a shortage of textbooks and that is why she had not done her school work.

The mother said when her daughter protested against sitting on the floor the teacher allegedly became aggressive and ordered her to "sit on the floor you dog".

The pupil sat on the floor for 30 minutes, which was the duration of the English period. The following day she was also made to sit on the floor for 30 minutes.

The mother said one of the classmates confirmed her daughter's ordeal .

Yesterday, she went to the school to confront the teacher.

"He did not deny doing all those things to my child; he told me she was stubborn.

"I'm not against a teacher punishing my child if she is in the wrong, but you can't impose that kind of punishment on a pregnant pupil."

As a way of apologising, the teacher took the pupil to a gynaecologist yesterday.

"Even though he apologised I'm still hurt by what he did; what if my child had a miscarriage?"

Sekhonyane said the department condemned the punishment used by the teacher on the pupil.

"This can be viewed as corporal punishment. Any educator who is found to have administered corporal punishment will face charges of assault, which could lead to the educator being dismissed," said Sekhonyane.

Minister of basic education Angie Motshekga revealed in parliament last month that there were more than 20000 pupils who fell pregnant last year, .

At least 20116 of the pregnancies were secondary school pupils. Gauteng topped with 5209 cases, followed by Eastern Cape with 3898.

macupeb@sowetan.co.za