Police this week urged parents and schools to report any “irregular” attempts to collect pupils immediately.
This after unconfirmed reports that an unmetered taxi driver tried to pick up a learner at a Centurion school without the parents’ consent on Monday.
Social media reports claimed the school contacted the learner in question’s parents after the driver provided details of the child.
The parents, however, told the school they made no such arrangements for the learner to be fetched.
“The schools do have systems in place to verify the truthfulness of these situations,” said Lyttelton police spokesperson Captain Dave Miller.
“This makes it difficult for just anyone to pick up your child from school. The school must, however, report such incidents to the police so that we can properly investigate.”
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Miller said it was also possible a child could be trying to leave school early.
“This will be part of our investigation,” he said.
Parents should make sure schools know of any alternative collection arrangements beforehand.
“A system that works is asking parents to provide handwritten notes, stating the child will be collected by a third party.”
Miller said police are always monitoring such incidents because “child abduction is a reality”.
The Gauteng education department would not give comment as the name of the school is unclear.
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