Two high school learners were stabbed in two separate incidents last week.
The issue of younger learners being mugged for their food has been happening at a top-performing school in Ikageng for a long time. Last Thursday, it ended in the stabbing of a 13-year-old Gr. 8 learner.
This has once again placed the lack of security and the safety and well-being of school learners and teachers in North West under the spotlight. The incidents follow after the brutal stabbing of a teacher in Zeerust, Gadimang Mokolobate, by a 17-year-old learner last week.
On Thursday, three boys, who seem to have dropped out of school, climbed over the fence and took some of the learners’ meals by force. The 13-year-old learner bravely stood up to them and ended up being stabbed in the shoulder.
Speaking to the Herald on Tuesday, his 38-year-old mother said this was not the first time that these boys had mugged the learners for their meals. The Department of
Basic Education provides these meals as part of the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP).
The NSNP has been proven ‘to improve punctuality, regular school attendance, concentration and the general well-being of participating learners,’ according to the department’s website.
The mother says her son is scared to go to school since the mugging. He fears for his safety and now walks to school with a friend. ‘This morning, he could not find someone to walk with him and I could see in his eyes that he was troubled,’ she said with concern. She says it is high time that security is provided at the school.
‘Anyone who is not part of the school should have to provide a valid reason before being allowed inside,’ she said.
Sgt Kelebogile Trom, the police spokesperson, says no one has been arrested at this stage but the police are still investigating.
Gr. 8 learner stabs a 17-year-old girl
In Mohadin, not far from the school premises, a Gr. 8 learner stabbed a 17-year-old Gr. 12 girl last Tuesday.
The girl told the police that she and a friend were on their way to a tuck shop to buy chips at about 10:00. A boy and his friends were standing at the gate. As she passed through, he stabbed her in the buttocks with a sharp stick. She insulted him and carried on walking. When she came back, he confronted her about insulting him. He pushed her and stabbed her in the back of the shoulder before his friend intervened. The principal and deputy principal stepped in and took her to the clinic. Trom reported that the suspect has been arrested.
The Gr. 12 girl, who is busy with her preliminary exams, told the Herald that she had flashbacks for a while. Now, she says, she is all right and focusing on passing her final exams well. According to her, the same learner was once suspended for pushing a teacher around.
She says the school should search the learners regularly because many of them carry knives to school and threaten the other learners. *At the time of print, there was still no response from the Department of Basic Educatio
