Sne Masuku

Sne Masuku

A grade 12 pupil, who was expelled from Tongaat Secondary School after being caught having sex with a fellow pupil in a toilet, returned to class yesterday.

This was after the intervention of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas), which forced the school to readmit the pupil.

Provincial Cosas spokesman Isaac Luthuli went to the school on Tuesday after receiving a complaint from the pupil about his expulsion.

"His parents were finding it hard to have him admitted to another school at this time of the year," Luthuli said.

The Cosas leadership escorted the pupil to the school.

After a heated argument with the school management agreed to readmit the pupil, pending a decision by the department.

"We were not there to negotiate," Luthuli said. "The decision was not proper since procedures of the Schools Act were not followed."

"What they did was very wrong. Making the pupil stay at home does not solve the problem. He is entitled to an education.

"We have been unable to get hold of the girl but we are searching for her so that we can advise her of her rights."

Speaking to Sowetan yesterday the boy's mother said she was happy that he was back in class.

"I was angry and embarrassed when I heard what my son did," she said.

"But I became worried when I failed to find him a school. Somehow I wanted him to go back to the same school and face what he did."

The two pupils were suspended for more than a month and only appeared before a disciplinary hearing more than two weeks later.

Education Department spokesman Mbali Thusi said the recommendations of the disciplinary inquiry were that both pupils be "transferred" to other schools to allow them to continue with their studies.