A teacher accused of calling his pupils "scum of the earth" and "dregs of society" before refusing to be in their official class photo, was forced to apologise during a special assembly.
Ben Jordaan, a Grade 7 teacher at Table View Primary School in Cape Town, was also accused of manhandling one of the pupils and shoving him from the classroom during an altercation.
But this week Jordaan dismissed the issue as a "storm in a teacup".
He said: "I did shove a pupil out of the class and I did not appear in their class photo, but that was because they could not find me in the school at the time.
"It was not intentional. I was busy with a task in another room," he said.
However, several pupils told Weekend Argus Jordaan had told them before the photo session that he would not be in the photograph as he did not want to be associated with them.
"I've apologised to the child who I was supposed to have hurt and every one is now happy," Jordaan said.
He denied insulting his pupils, but conceded: "I did say that children without ambition would end up begging on street corners with cardboard signs hanging around their necks."
School principal Kobus Smit said the relationship between Jordaan and his pupils had been "problematic and uncomfortable" the whole year and things came to a head last week when a parent took up the issue with the school.
He confirmed that Jordaan had apologised to the Grade 7 pupils and to an individual pupil during an assembly.
"But we've addressed the problem internally and everyone is happy," Smit said.
Education department spokesperson Paddy Attwell said shoving a child out of a classroom with physical force would be "viewed as assault", but declined to comment on the allegations at Table View Primary before knowing the merits of the case.
"It's always difficult to get to the truth of a classroom matter where emotions often run high between teachers and pupils."
Jordaan said that the pupils had given him a difficult year.
"The ones who gave me trouble were not necessarily children with poor academic ability, but those with behavioural problems."