KwaZulu-Natal education department has been ordered to pay him more than R600,000 for the 19 months he has been at home.

The teacher did not only get his job back, the KwaZulu-Natal education department has been ordered to pay him more than R600,000 for the 19 months he has been at home.

The teacher, who cannot be named to protect the pupil, was the grade 9 head of the department (HOD). His woes started after he confronted one of his colleagues for mocking a girl he had assigned to collect statistics from “each class every day”.

According to the ruling, the colleague had ridiculed the pupil in front of others and said “she could not count”. The HOD testified that the teacher agreed to apologise to the pupil.

“He further testified that he called [the pupil] into his office to tell her that the [teacher] had agreed to apologise. He went on to state that [the pupil] was teary and emotional. He gave her a hug and told her that the [teacher] would never mock her again,” the ruling reads.

“He stated that the following day he was told to see the manager and that the manager verbally put him on precautionary suspension. He said that he only received the formal suspension letter four months after he was suspended.”

The HOD’s salary was stopped in August 2021. He testified he received a letter terminating his contract on September 16 2021.