Two teachers have been asked to explain their role in an initiation ceremony conducted at Parktown Boys' High School in Johannesburg in 2009, the education department said on Wednesday.

The two were served letters of request on Tuesday, spokesperson Charles Phahlane said in a statement.

The request followed parent Pene Kimber's disclosure about her 17-year-old son being woken up in the middle of the night in the school's hostel and dragged to a playing field where he and other boys were stripped naked by Grade 12 pupils.

The Grade 11 teenager had Deep Heat rubbed onto his genitals and was assaulted with golf clubs, cricket bats and hockey sticks, apparently part of an initiation ceremony.

The teachers were linked to the violent practice, which has allegedly been going on for some time at the school.

"This is a first step in determining whether any disciplinary action should be taken against them [because] initiation ceremonies are outlawed in our schools."