Robbing pupils of a future
I WRITE in response to the article“Teachers call for safety in schools”.
The extraordinarily high levels of violence in our schools is a reflection of the fact that we are an extremely violent society, with among the highest levels of all forms of violence (sexual, physical, murder) across all settings (the home, school and community) in the world.
While that remains true, we will not be able to do too much about violence in schools.
While immediate steps to protect the lives and bodily integrity of all members of the school community must be implemented, this will not address the causes of the problem.
That requires thinking about and developing interventions for the longer term.
There are many things that need to be done to address the contexts which fuel violence:
Address poverty: half of all South Africans live below the upper-bound poverty line.
Address unemployment: nearly 30% of South Africans cannot find work.
Address violence in the home: parents found guilty of assault for corporally punishing their children are able to claim the defence of reasonable chastisement, and the WHO estimates that 60 000 women and children are physically abused in the home each month.
Address the appalling state of our public education system: the quality of education attained by school-leaving learners is concerning, as are the high levels of violence in schools, and the high drop-out rate.
Address the quality of health care in public health: shortages of doctors and medicine stockouts bedevil health care in rural communities.
We are told, that, unfortunately we can’t afford this.
But here’s the thing – we can. South Africa is a middle-income country and can afford to provide for all the rights guaranteed to all citizens under our constitution.
It is this which makes the capture of the state and the diverting of vast sums of money to personal profit that is robbing South Africa’s children of their future, so ghastly and unforgivable.
It must stop. CAROL BOWER Nieuwoudtville