A South African school has been rocked by allegations that a senior teacher inadvertently screened pornography to pupils.
The teacher, who has been suspended in the wake of the scandal, is understood to have mistakenly shown illicit sexual images during a presentation.
His future will be determined by an independent probe currently under way, while the well-established school has gone to ground.
Slideshow
A school insider, who requested anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the press, said that pupils had gathered for a slideshow.
“What children told us is that the laptop to show the presentation was not working so the member of staff elected to use his own to show the PowerPoint file. When it was plugged into the projector pornography flashed onto the screen,” the source said.
Children who reported the incident said the teacher allegedly justified the mishap to the pupils, apparently saying that “all your parents do this stuff”, after hastily unplugging his laptop.
It is understood that several children had come forward in the wake of the incident, leading to the suspension of the teacher.
This was confirmed by a second source within school structures with intimate knowledge of the incident.
Staff had also been instructed not to speak to the press, in an effort to keep a lid on the scandal.
The affected children were offered guidance counselling after what they saw.
Governing Body Foundation head Tim Gordon said: “The exposure of children to pornographic or other undesirable material must be condemned in the strongest terms. Our schools should be a haven against exposure to undesirable material.”
