Don't kill teachers, rather let's restore teaching profession to its former glory

I'm glad I went to school when teachers were still royalty.

However, I have never been a fan of corporal punishment during my days as a pupil because I'm terrified of any form of pain. To this day, I believe some teachers abused corporal punishment.

Fast forward to a democratic South Africa, teachers are under siege. What is happening in schools is shocking.

I never thought I would live to see a teacher getting killed by a pupil... inside school premises. Sadly, the violence we are witnessing in our society has now spread to schools.

No matter how angry I became at the behaviour of some of my teachers, assaulting or killing them would never have crossed my mind.

Nothing warms my heart like hearing a former teacher boasting to other people who care to listen that I'm his or her product.

Teachers still play a significant role in shaping the future of pupils. All successful people were once pupils, and education had helped them to succeed. We just can't wish teachers away.

Pupils who form bonds and get attached to their teachers suffer when their teacher gets killed. They get traumatised by the incident because they lose someone who had become part of their lives, and sometimes part of their parents' and extended families' lives.

It is worse when they have to witness the killing of a beloved teacher without even trying to defend them.

As with other things that have gone wrong in this country, the respect for teachers has taken a devastating blow. Something needs to be done to preserve the respect that the teaching profession once commanded.

Richardson Mzaidume

Pimville