Escalating violence among high school learners in Brakpan has prompted urgent intervention from authorities and parents.

A meeting to address the issue was held on March 23 in the boardroom at the Brakpan Police Station.

The gathering was attended by station commander Brigadier Johanna Ngoma, Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Roets, social crime prevention and communications officer Constable Audrey Buthelezi, Gauteng Department of Education school safety representative Patience Mabena and several parents of local high school learners.

The engagement follows two weeks of learners fighting in groups, bullying, and threatening one another at school.

According to Buthelezi, a learner was seriously injured during one such incident, and it is alleged that the learners who beat the child were from other schools and were recruited as part of a group to assault the learner.

Buthelezi attended to the fighting complaints for the past two weeks, were she engaged with the school principal, learners and their parents.

“The fighting is not stopping and seems to be escalating to a more serious level. Some of the learners are reportedly refusing to go to school due to fears of being bullied and beaten up by other learners,” she said.

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The parents came to the SAPS seeking assistance to ensure the safety of their children at the school and to request the SAPS to assist with the disbandment of the fighting groups in the school.

Mabena explained the importance of identifying problematic behaviours in learners and at schools, which she said always starts small and seems to be controllable, but later turns to bigger and out-of-control situations.

She further told the parents that the education department and stakeholders are doing their best to ensure learners are protected, and they will always ensure that a learner receives the necessary assistance before resorting to harsher correctional methods.

Mabena agreed that group fights and external recruitment are characteristics of gangsterism. She said the current situation at the school in question is not gangsterism but can lead to it.

She then explained the programmes that the department will conduct at the school and how they will be run.

Mabena further encouraged parents to be part of this programme by talking to their children, supporting their dreams, and guiding them back on the right path.

Ngoma assured the parents that the SAPS, in partnership with relevant stakeholders, conducts searches and talks at schools every week aimed at tackling lawlessness within schools.

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She further requested parents to assist by strictly monitoring their children, searching their school bags, and asking questions about their friends and activities at schools.

The brigadier cited that arresting a learner is the last option, and that SAPS believes in educating first.

The parents were relieved when Ngoma confirmed that there is current deployment at the school to monitor the situation.

“This is only a short-term plan, while stakeholders are currently working on a long-term, if not permanent, solution to stop the group fights,” added Buthelezi.

She emphasised that the SAPS Safer Schools Campaign continues, and that while problematic schools are currently receiving more attention, the other schools are not neglected.

“The SAPS is making a plea to parents to become part of their children’s day-to-day school lives. A parent should not only be happy because they can afford to pay school fees and buy school uniforms and stationery,” said Buthelezi.

“As a parent, you should have the urge to know who your child’s friends are, what kind of person your child is outside your home, and what your child does at school and after school.

“A parent should have access to their children’s cellphones because they use their smartphones to plan unacceptable activities and use their smartphones to bully each other on social media.

“It is not a secret that in other places, learners lose their lives as a result of fighting in schools.

“It is also common knowledge that gangsterism has dire consequences. One lost learner is one too many.

“As it takes a village to raise a child, Brakpan SAPS calls on the community to come together and raise every child, because we refuse to lose a learner because of bullying, peer pressure or any ill behaviour of the other, who has no idea of the consequences of their actions.”