Winterveldt school social worker says GBV dialogues can open learners’ minds
The school social worker says learners can regain power by talking about gender-based violence.
Winterveldt high school social worker Mmamotlasi Mokoena believes that dialogue can be helpful in teaching learners about gender-based violence and other forms of domestic abuse.
Mokoena said the use of GBV dialogues in school opens the minds of learners to know more about their environment and educate themselves on things they did not know about GBV.
She believes that through the use of dialogues learners will regain their power and be able to speak about abuse even at home when they see it happen.
“They get to identify any form of abuse and not justify things. It helps them to identify it also at home, learning and gaining their power back as well as help their parents too.”
Mokoena said learners go through a lot and there are often cases of abuse that were not dealt with which result in certain behaviours in the learner.
“Some become hyperactive while others withdraw. When a child withdraws, the behaviour changes,” she said.
She added that teachers, who play the role of parents in school, are the ones who help the social worker by explaining the behaviour of a child in school.
“We ask the teachers if there’s a change in the behaviour of a child and that’s how we identify that the child is going through something,” she said.
Mokoena said cases of any form of abuse in Winterveldt have often resulted in kids getting into drugs and alcohol abuse.
Although parents are not qualified social workers, Mokoena believes that they can also pick up signs of abuse and GBV when they monitor their kids.
Mokoena said the behavioural change at home reveals a lot.
“You find out as a parent that a child that liked watching TV doesn’t like it anymore or the child now starts sitting in the dark alone,” she said.
“Some kids don’t sleep at night. They cry instead of sleeping. That’s when the parent can come in and ask the child if he/she wants to talk about it and if not the parents can recommend a social worker,” she said.
She said it’s hard for parents because kids go through a lot and they don’t say anything at home.
“It’s torture for parents and they ask themselves questions and start blaming themselves. Some wish they could take the pain from their children away,” she said.
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