When I was a Grade 7 learner my father lost his job. He started to drink alcohol excessively.

Before that I was always focused on my studies but that rough patch distracted my focus.

We struggled at home, poverty was palpable at all times.

My English teacher noticed I was no longer excelling in class and was not doing my homework anymore.

She then consulted my parents to deal with my problem which was as a result of my broken home.

It took a teacher who was not derogatory towards me and was psychologically acquainted to resolve my issues.

I strongly believe the challenges that pupils are going through today have evolved, but the fact that a teacher can intervene after noticing a problem, has not.

Today, we have teachers who scream at learners in class. What does that say about our teaching curriculum which serves to train teachers?

I say this with a distraught and heavy heart, but keeping quiet about it is not an option.

I know of some university graduates who pass their psychological science learning module with 50% and they are teaching as we speak.

Can't we require at least a 69% pass mark in all psychology modules before we endorse students to be teachers?

For as long as we have mediocre teachers, South Africa will continue to face chaos in classrooms. The disgrace to have teachers who cannot manage pupils in classrooms will very soon be the norm.

Recently, at Jeppe Boys High School, a teacher was filmed attacking a pupil.

It's absolutely absurd and shows how psychologically unfit some teachers are.

I know sometimes we are quick to judge even when we have less details, but that teacher's conduct was not only unprofessional but disconcerting too.

I think we all agree that the teacher was wrong, the same way as the learner might have been at fault.

I am looking for legitimate solutions and don't want to dwell on the grimness of that video.

But to paint a picture of what really happened, the teacher attacked the pupil while saying: "God, you are such an idiot, stop your s*** and work. Really, where is your book? Where are your notes? What the f*** is it doing in your case? Oh, shut up you idiot, you cannot talk back because you know you are guilty."

If there are no intense steps taken to equip teachers, violence will flood schools.

We will get to a point where some teachers might even be killed.

I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating but it's a fact, we have seen cases where teachers are instead harassed by pupils, and that's not how it should be.

I am sorry to say that some learners are not interested in learning anymore. They have become so violent to the point that if a teacher yells at them they respond harshly too.

To avoid all this, teachers should be competent on how to manage classrooms.

Every day, there seems to be more factors that influence quarrels between teacher and learners. Therefore, we don't need any more unqualified teachers to exacerbate what we are currently facing.

According to the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (Sacmeq) report which was presented to MPs, teachers in SA are getting worse and continue to fare poorly in proficiency in the key subjects such as English and maths.

I agree with that report, and this is a challenge that needs to be tackled urgently. We could begin by training teachers in psychology to equip them to manage classrooms and pupils better.

We need open-minded teachers who can exercise caution when engaging with learners. We need teachers who take cognisance of the fact that learners come from different backgrounds, therefore don't need a glove-fit-all kind of approach.

For a fact, some teachers are not trained in psychology, yet we expect them to deal with children on a daily basis.

Our education departments, in all spheres, need to introspect because we require nothing but quality teachers in all aspects.

Myataza is a political science graduate from the University of the Western Cape and currently, a content developer at the Media and Writers Firm