Police tackle school bullying
Locally, an incident occurred at an Umkomaas school last month.
With more frequent incidents of bullying and violence in schools in the country, police intervention is needed now more than ever.
Umkomaas Saps is introducing an anti-bullying initiative to potentially prevent bullying in local schools.
This comes after a bullying incident involving three girls at an Umkomaas school last month.
It is believed that the incident was at first verbal and then became physical.
A source revealed that it was not the first time that a problem occurred among these particular learners and that there was evidence of cyberbullying a few months prior to this incident, which included racism.
Umkomaas Saps’ spokesperson, Captain Ranjith Rampersad, confirmed that a case of assault was opened by two of the learners after the school fight on February 18.
Details of the case cannot be revealed at this stage as it is currently under investigation, and also it involves minors.
Station commander Colonel Mbongeni Mngadi has since introduced an ‘adopt a cop’ programme at the school.
“Every effort will be made by our social crime prevention unit to regularly visit all schools in our precinct,” said Mngadi.
A parent who wishes to remain anonymous stated that they hope something is done to prevent bullying in schools from getting worse.
“Bullying like this results in trauma, depression, anxiety, and the sad reality is that not all learners feel safe going to school because of this unnecessary violence.”
The school in question was contacted for comment on the matter. No feedback has been received to date.
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