JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- A headmaster whips a student for wearing dreadlocks to school. A high school girl is raped. A gangster draws his gun in the schoolyard.
This is the world of "Yizo Yizo," a television series that for the first time in South Africa dramatizes the gritty side of township life, with an eye toward young black viewers.The show has quickly become the nation's top-rated program. But it also has set off controversy like nothing else on TV here.
Parents and educators have expressed outrage at the unvarnished stories of violence and degradation. Some schools are reporting that students are mirroring the behavior depicted in "Yizo Yizo," which means "This is it" in the Zulu language, including brazenly smoking marijuana in a hallway and flushing a student's head in the toilet.
A group of parents sent a petition demanding the show be taken off the air.
The makers of the 13-episode series say it is time to discuss serious issues that have largely been ignored. Writer and director Theboho Mahlatsi said the show, with all of its violence, is a genuine representation of township schools.
Mahlatsi, 27, said the plots were based on eight weeks of research in four provinces.
"It's been a long time since I was in the classroom, so I had to do a lot of research to find out what was really going on with kids today," he said.
The South African Broadcasting Corp. even cut some scenes drawn from his research because they were thought to be too sensational, he said, including one case in which a student brings a hand grenade into class. The show was commissioned by the education division of the SABC and was funded by the national Department of Education.
As for the copycats, Mahlatsi said that will change once students see how the gangsters drag the school into chaos.