DURBAN - KWAZULU-NATAL Department of Education (DoE) has intervened in a cyberbullying incident where a Durban Grade 10 pupil had been ridiculed over the size of her breasts by her classmate on a WhatsApp group.
The victim had been chatting on a school friends WhatsApp group where one of her friends told her in isiZulu, “ak thina sonke esisindwa umthwalo wamabele imin yonke”.
Translated to English it meant, not all of us carry the load of big breasts around the whole day.
After the Daily News published the story on Tuesday, the DoE circuit manager went to the school to investigate.
Department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said he asked the manager to arrange counselling for the victim and have a session with all the pupils in that WhatsApp group to warn them about the danger of bullying and passing remarks about a person’s physical appearance.
“We reacted quickly after seeing the video. We know these acts can lead to severe repercussions. The family acted responsibly. They reported the matter to authorities and to the media. Others would have taken a different stance.
“They would have confronted the pupil who sent the message outside the school or at his/her home. The situation could have been volatile,” said Mahlambi.
The victim’s aunt from uMlazi, who cannot be named to protect the child, told the Daily News on Wednesday that the school called her on Tuesday and told her to bring her niece for counselling.
She said she was relieved and grateful because the school had been refusing to listen to her since the incident last year. The school had allegedly told her previously that it could not act on something that happened outside its premises.
“I could not believe when they emailed to inform me that my niece will receive counselling.”
The school did not respond to an email sent and also did not take calls on Wednesday.
Daily News