Joburg - Following several violent and deadly incidents that were reported at schools in just five weeks since the reopening of schools, the Department of Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the incidents could be avoided if the parents and community members would come to the party.
“Without parents and members of the community taking charge, nothing else will work. The perpetrators are either children or adults that live in the same area of the schools,” he said.
Learners are found with knives, scissors and other sharp objects at schools daily and police are nowhere to be found. Mhlanga agreed that it was the police who conduct the searches in schools in collaboration with school management, but asked about the parents of the learners who bring the weapons and drugs to school.
He said the Ficksburg incident where schoolchildren overturned a police vehicle at Tlotlisong Secondary School demonstrated that the presence of the police did not make the social ills go away.
“This case shows that the learners are not scared of the police. This also means there’s something fundamentally wrong with the social fabric of the community. Parents need to play their part,” he added.
He said it was unrealistic to expect 188 000 to be 25 000 for 14.3 million children five days a week.
“We need to resist the temptation to isolate schools from their communities. The incidents at a school are a reflection of the social ills that are prevalent in that community. The community needs to cleanse itself of the culture of normalising violence,” he said.
Mhlanga said free-flowing learning was taking place in most of the schools in the 75 districts and 889 circuits in the nine provinces.
“Where challenges arise the police will deal with them in collaboration with the local communities. Schools are victims of crime where equipment is stolen by the same people who live where the school is located,” he said.
Current Affairs