Law says initiation may not hurt

The Saturday Star,February 27, 2009 Edition 2,Louise Flanagan

School initiations that hurt, threaten or humiliate anyone are illegal.

This week, Parktown Boys' High ruled out the use of violence in initiation, but said it would continue to allow the practice.

"Initiation without violence is where we have to go. There can be no hint of intimidation and fear," Parktown principal Tom Clarke told parents on Wednesday night. He did not give details of what such initiation would entail.

Clarke declined to speak to The Star yesterday.

Last week, The Star reported on complaints by the mother of a boy at the school that younger boys were assaulted by older boys during an initiation ritual at the school hostel, which included whipping boys until they bled.

Other parents and former pupils of the school then told The Star of other incidents of violence and abuse, while some parents and pupils defended initiation, saying it built character.

Regulations issued in December 2002 in terms of the South African Schools Act prohibit initiation rituals in schools. This applies to both state and independent schools.

"No principal, educator or learner may allow or participate in any act or practice which involves initiation practices or may cause or contribute to the humiliation, degradation, harassment, assault, crimen injuria, intimidation or maltreatment of learners," state the regulations.

"There should be a relationship of mutual trust and respect between learners, and between learners and educators. Victimisation of the one by the other is unacceptable, and peer pressure cannot be regarded as a justification for engaging in acts of intimidation."

Instead of initiations, the regulations encourage schools to use inductions, with the focus on "self-discipline, self-motivation and self-respect together with academic and sporting achievements".

The regulations define an outlawed initiation practice as "any act which, in the process of initiation, admission into, or affiliation with, or as condition for continued membership of a school, a group, intramural or extramural activities, inter-schools sports team or organisation:

lEndangers the mental or physical health or safety of a person;

lSeeks to undermine the intrinsic worth of human beings by treating some as inferior to others;

lSubjects individuals to humiliating or violent acts that undermine the constitutional guarantee to dignity in the Bill of Rights;

• Undermines the fundamental rights and values that underpin the constitution;

• Impedes the development of a true democratic culture that entitles an individual to be treated as worthy of respect and concern;

• Destroys public or private property.

• The regulations also include that "Principals must make sure there are no initiations in the school, the hostels or on school outings".

The act and regulations are available on the national Education Department website at www.education.gov.za