Safe schools? Not in SA

South Africa’s schools are war zones. And the violence has been increasing over the past year, despite strenuous efforts by government to implement the “Safe Schools” protocol.

Cops arrested five pupils and a parent this week after a troubling series of incidents at Tsakane Secondary School in Gauteng.

These included bullying and intimidation of both teachers and pupils.

Violence and bullying plague SA schools

The thugs on Wednesday threatened teachers and pupils with knives; blocked them from moving through passages; and extorted them for money and phones during school hours.

The Gauteng department of education said these acts of criminality and violence undermine the safe schooling environment that all pupils and teachers deserve.

“Schools must remain centres of learning and not spaces of fear or lawlessness,” it said.

ALSO READ: Gauteng education MEC praises police after students arrested at Tsakane Secondary School

The department also urged parents to “play an active role in instilling respect and accountability in their children.

Threats or intimidation directed at the school or its employees will not be tolerated and will be dealt with through appropriate legal channels”.

But incidents of violence at schools are becoming commonplace across the country.

• A teenage boy, stabbed in the classroom in Daveyton last week, is currently fighting for his life in hospital.
• In Mpumalanga, a pupil was recently stabbed and killed by another pupil.
• This week, a school principal was stabbed in the hand while trying to stop a fight between pupils from West Ridge High School and Hoërskool Roodepoort.

Incidents of violence

It is alleged a group of West Ridge pupils went to Hoërskool Roodepoort to retaliate after an earlier altercation between the schools last Friday. A video circulated on social media.

• A senior teacher from Pele Primary School in Soshanguve, Tshwane, is on leave after she was assaulted by an 11-year-old pupil. Sources at the school said it was not the first time pupils had assaulted a teacher.
• In April, at Vulanindlela Secondary School in Orange Farm, a Grade 10 pupil stabbed a Grade 11 pupil during a confrontation. The victim was hospitalised. The perpetrator is in police custody.
• In Western Cape, 50 incidents of verbal or physical assaults by pupils on teachers were recorded since January – averaging nearly 10 incidents per month. In one case, a Grade 9 pupil hurled a brick at a teacher at Manenberg High School.
• At Hoërskool Die Burger in Randburg, a Grade 8 pupil stabbed a teacher. The teacher is recovering at home. The school has initiated disciplinary proceedings.
• At Kgabareng Secondary School in Viljoenskroon in the Free State, a Grade 10 pupil, angered at being reprimanded, stabbed a teacher.
• In Yeoville, Johannesburg, seven girls (ages 13–15) from multiple schools attacked a 14-yearold pupil from Bedfordview High School at a house in May. The incident was shared on social media. Since the start of the year, 548 bullying incidents were reported in schools.

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