A Port Elizabeth school approached the high court to get the Eastern Cape’s education department to decide on the fate of two boys caught with dagga, the school’s principal said on Thursday.
The application was heard on Tuesday, and on Wednesday Alexander Road High School received the department’s decision, dated November 3, not to expel the boys, principal Peter Manser said.
”The application from the school was to get the department to make a decision and apply the South African Schools Act.”
Manser said it had been an ”emotional time” for the parents of the children and for the school.
He was relieved that a decision had finally been made even though the school’s governing body had recommended expelling the boys. ”We’ve been waiting for a decision all this time.”
Expulsion was recommended to the department by the governing body after both pupils admitted to their misconduct on August 7 this year at a disciplinary council hearing.
The boys, who are under 18, were caught with dagga and one boy was supplying it, Manser said.
Court papers were filed on Tuesday after waiting for a decision from the department.
The boys were suspended for 14 days but later readmitted to classes because of the department’s failure to decide on their fate.
Since then, one had allegedly caused serious disruptions in class and threatened another pupil — not a teacher, as the Herald Online had reported.
Judge John Grogan had ruled this week that the department had until next Monday to take a final decision on the future of the boys. — Sapa