A few weeks back, a pupil from Mafaesa High School in Kagiso assaulted two female teachers, breaking the nose of one of the assaulted educators.
Apparently the pupil was under the influence of alcohol. He has since been suspended and will appear before the disciplinary committee soon.
A week later, three pupils from Mosupatsela High School – also in Kagiso – were apprehended for carrying an unlicensed firearm at school. The school deputy principal alerted the police as soon as he became aware of it. The police responded promptly and arrested the trio.
The above are just two stories, as many pupils in Kagiso high schools carry guns, attack and assault educators. The challenge is not isolated to Kagiso schools only but to other areas as well, as recent media reports have shown.
One school boy was shown on television assaulting a white male teacher at a Joburg school. The teacher ran away from the class and the pupil went after him trying to kick the poor teacher. And his classmates were more than happy to film the incident on their phones and circulate. How cruel.
But is this behaviour of pupils coming to school drunk and carrying dangerous weapons such as guns acceptable? Is it acceptable for teachers to work in constant fear of being attacked, assaulted and harassed by pupils? Our silence is deafening on this matter.
We seem to have thrown in the towel and think a Messiah will emerge from somewhere to rescue our schools from the abovementioned challenges. Well I’ve got news for our community: there is no Messiah who is going to come from somewhere to help us solve the abovementioned problems at our schools. We’ll have to solve the problems ourselves.
There are many theories doing the rounds about why pupils have turned against educators at our schools. And why they are so ill-disciplined and unruly. Some say it is because of Satanism and others blame parents for not grooming their kids well.
That said, at the end we as a community should roll up our sleeves and help to find the solution. Otherwise, things will worsen even further. Is that what we want? We don’t want a situation where our schools are guarded by armed security guards or police. So let’s do something before it’s too late.
