Parents had enough of school bullying
Pupils from many other schools also fell victim to violence and bullying, which forced the Department of Education to intervene.
Two parents of Hoërskool Bastion pupils say that they have had enough of violence and bullying in schools and are planning protest action.
This comes after a cellphone video surfaced, showing a fight between two girls on the school ground in which Tola Bester’s daughter Chané was involved after rumours were spread on BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).
The NEWS is in possession of these messages.
Linda Bosch’s daughter Marisca also was attacked verbally and had stationery thrown at her when she defended her friend after the attack.
“We were told that a pupil who overheard the group of girls planning the attack, submitted a report about what she had heard,” says Bester.
“After seeing what was happening at our schools we wanted to go to school with our children, but we heard that we were not allowed to do so, therefore we had our children staying home from school. However, the Department of Education informed us that it was against the law.”
The parents say that now their children allegedly are being victimised by their fellow pupils and teachers.
“One teacher shouted at my child and told her to keep quiet, although my child denied that she was the culprit and said that the pupil who spoke confessed that she was the guilty one. The teacher ignored this and told my daughter to go and sit at the front of the classroom.”
Hoërskool Bastion is not the only school where violence and bullying are taking place. Parents need to pay attention to their children and to what is being said to them or to other pupils on their cellphones.
On 30 October the Gauteng Department of Education, Crime Line and the South African Police Service (SAPS) joined forces in a bid to equip pupils with tools to report crime and social issues such as violence, bullying, assault and victimising in schools.
The initiative called Young Crime Lines was launched at the Mosupatsela Secondary School in Kagiso where a firearm was discovered recently.
Barbara Creecy, Gauteng Education MEC for Education said that this initiative was to ensure that crime had no place in schools.
“We want you (pupils) to report any form of violence, whether it be bullying, physical and sexual assault and corporal punishment in your school,” she told the pupils at the school.
She said that the Department recognised that it had a responsibility to continually work towards a school environment in which pupils, educators and school principals feel and are safe.
The initiative comes in the wake of an alarming number of incidents that have dominated social media networks over the past week, illustrating the high levels of bullying and other criminal behaviour in schools.
“We have seen a number of videos go viral and stories dominating headlines about a variety of crimes perpetrated by or against children at schools in the province. They range from cases of sexual abuse, bullying, drug dealing to violence. Unfortunately these cases mainly go unreported with tragic consequences,” says Head of Crime Line, Yusuf Abramjee.
Crime Line’s anonymous 32211 SMS service (costs R1) and Crime Stop’s 08600 10111 are open to Young Crime Liners to report crime without revealing their identity.
The Department will be rolling out the Young Crime Liners initiative on a school by school basis in Gauteng and was inspired by Lead SA’s Bill of Responsibilities initiative that forms part of the Life Orientation curriculum in schools.
