Experiences and challenges of evidence leaders ("prosecutors") in learner disciplinary hearings in public schools

Abstract

There is incontrovertible evidence of significant disciplinary problems in South African public schools. Before the advent of democracy in 1994 there was a perception that the one of the failings of the education system in South Africa was a failure to protect the rights and interests of learners in disciplinary hearings investigating charges of misconduct against them. The alleged lack of protection for learners was attributed among other reasons to racial discrimination, authoritarianism, and a disregard for the rule of law and the principles of natural justice. The principles of natural justice form part of the common law but their application in school disciplinary matters left much to be desired in the past.