KEY POINTS
- The bullying at school forced Mbali Mlaba to commit suicide as she entered her 13th year.
- The Free State Department of Education has promised to serve affected learners and work toward stopping future bullying occurrences.
- Free State Minister Dr. Mantlhake Julia Maboya extended her condolences to the grieving family as a result of the tragedy.
Mbali Mlaba ended her life by suicide after enduring bullying at Vulindlela Primary School in Harrismith which is located in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District of Free State province where she was at Grade 7.
Howard Ndaba from the provincial Department of Education reports that Mbali faced continuous bullying through accusations of cheating from her classmate during tests.
Learner dies by suicide in the note her mother found
A written note discovered by Mbali’s mother disclosed the reasons for her daughter’s fatal choice explaining that the bullied student feared her aggressive classmate who attacked her in the last school term.
The bullying victim asked the school for relocation to a different educational institution because harassment continued at her current school.
Department of education responds to tragedy
The Free State Department of Education declares its dedicated support for stopping school bullying and maintaining safe learning conditions.
The department acknowledges that bullying inflicts severe mental and emotional harm to learners while dedicating resources to assist students and staff members to stop more cases.
The department remains dedicated to developing a school environment built on student kindness and student empathy and student respect according to Ndaba.
He stated that psycho-social assistance had already reached affected educators and learners and appealed to learners and parents alongside their community counterparts to help develop secure educational environments.
Learner dies by suicide, MEC sends condolences to family
Dr. Mantlhake Julia Maboya who serves as the Free State MEC for Education expressed her sympathy along with condolences to all family members of Mbali. The educational institution mourns the tragic death of a Grade 7 student at Vulindlela Primary School according to Maboya.
The Department extends its deepest sympathies to the family and companions together with all those who were deeply touched by this fatal moment.
A previous event at the facility exposed the ongoing bullying problem at the institution
A previous incident had occurred the preceding year at Phutha Primary School in Klipgat when parents staged a protest because learner Regomoditswe Baloyi died by suicide purportedly because of teacher-based bullying.
According to reports the teacher painfully predicted that poverty would lead Baloyi to suffer through life until his eventual death.
