Police flag crimes at primary schools

MORE THAN 100 “problematic schools” in the Western Cape have been identified by the police and the Department of Education as in need of serious intervention.

A police youth desk officer, who could not be named, said they found pupils, aged 10-14 years, who resorted to “selling drugs, bullying fellow pupils and abusing alcohol while still at primary school, and continued to do so when they reached high school”.

“Pupils who are fresh from primary schools are the ones who cause the most trouble at high school,” the officer said.

The police and the department said they were actively engaging with pupils through their Safe School strategy.

Education Department spokesperson Paddy Attwell said most of the reports of school ground violence, crime and substance abuse were from disadvantaged areas.

“There were (nine) reports of gang violence affecting primary schools in January 2017, but these reports did not necessarily involve learners. These reports normally involve incidents of gang violence in the vicinity of schools.”

The department advised all schools to form safety committees and to work in conjunction with Safe Schools fieldworkers to devise and “implement safety plans”.

Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said: “Our youth desk officials visit schools in order to assist the pupils to be and stay safe.”

Leaflets which deal with crime awareness and safety tips, which are regularly handed out at schools, were very useful, Grade 6 teacher, Nomthandazo Mathanzima from Nkazimulo Primary School in Khayelitsha said: “The information the pupils received will help them a lot because it relates to problems, which they face daily. The pupils do bully and rob each other of money and lunch boxes.”

Molo Songololo director Patric Solomons said parents had to be more proactive “if they were to free their children from the clutches of gangsterism and substance (abuse)”.

“In most cases the older gangsters recruit the primary school pupils to do their activities because they get lighter sentences.

“Once pupils get involved with the gangs they start bullying others in school because they feel superior.”