A grade 12 pupil has been suspended with immediate effect after a teacher was assaulted at Motswedi Secondary School near Zeerust in the North West as pupils were unhappy about the school's closure as a result of Covid-19 confirmed cases.The the pupil's fellow classmates will face disciplinary action.

North West education spokesperson Elias Malindi said the incident happened on Thursday within the school premises.

"On the day of the incident sub-district officials and the school management assembled learners at the school to address them of the temporary school closure due to a confirmed case of Covid-19 amongst the teachers. "After the meeting some of the learners were unhappy about the decision of closing the school and were seen arguing and assaulting a teacher. One of the learners was seen headbutting the teacher whilst others were insulting him," Malindi said.

He said some of the pupils recorded a video of this atrocious behaviour that went viral on social media pages.

North West education MEC Mmaphefo Matsemela said she was extremely disappointed by the incident.

"This behaviour of assaulting teachers in our schools by learners is totally unacceptable. In 2018 an educator was stabbed to death by a learner in the same sub-district and we cannot allow such a deplorable behaviour to resurface in our schools. As a department we view this as a very serious offence to be committed by learners.

"Teachers are parents to learners while they are in school and no child will be allowed to raise a hand towards them. l have instructed the officials of the department to ensure that a disciplinary hearing takes place as soon as possible against all learners involved in the incident," Matsemela said.

The disciplinary hearing is expected to take place this week after the school has been decontaminated and disinfected.