South African Teen Commits Suicide After Teacher Calls Him “Sissy Boy”

Student Teacher Under Fire

A student instructor at South Africa’s North West University is being looked into for reportedly making fun of a homosexual adolescent from Soweto. Later, the 15-year-old student committed suicide. Up to the conclusion of the inquiry, the university verified the teacher will continue her studies. According to Louis Jacobs, the university’s spokesperson, the university had written to the higher education minister on Tuesday to let them know it was aware of the occurrence and had started an inquiry. Teacher called the student “Sissy Boy” A month ago, Tiro Moalusi, a student in grade nine at PJ Simelane Secondary School, committed himself after the student teacher reportedly made fun of him in front of his fellow students for being gay.

It is alleged she called him “ngwanyana abuti” (sissy boy), prompting her and the whole class to laugh. When he confronted the student teacher and told her how it made him feel, she allegedly continued to laugh.

Jacobs said the university had since identified her as a third-year student who was enrolled at the faculty of education. 

He added the student teacher was doing her practical at the school when the incident occurred.

South Africa has a constitution forbidding discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.