State plans to help out with pupils in crisis

‘Every school should have a social worker’

PLANS to absorb over 2 000 unemployed social workers into the system and assign one to each school in the province are at an advanced stage.

Social development MEC Nancy Sihlwayi said schools at the top of the list were those battling social ills such as pupil pregnancies and drug abuse, as well as those vulnerable to natural disasters.

Among the first 150 schools to benefit this year is Sophathisana Senior Primary East London.

An education department report released late in 2016 revealed that Sophathisana was among 10 primary schools in the province to account for a total of 232 cases of schoolgirl pregnancies in the 2015 academic year, with 74 of its 401 girls falling pregnant.

The mission of the provincial school social work programme (SSWP) is to eventually have a full-time social worker assigned to most of the province’s 6 063 schools.

“Ideally every school is meant to have a social worker attached to it, not only to serve in times of crisis but to provide help wherever needed.

“Because of budgetary constraints that has not been achieved yet.

“However, this in project Reeston, will now begin the process towards that aim,” said Sihlwayi.

The SSWP will start off by using the 150 graduates the department had pledged to absorb each year as part of its plans to reduce the number of unemployed social workers.

The announcement comes as a welcome relief for communities such the one surrounding Luna Primary in Bizana, where little Lumka Mkhethwa, 5, drowned in a pit latrine a month ago.

The education department dispatched a team of social workers to counsel the children.

The province has the third highest number of unemployed social workers in South Africa, most of whom received government funding for their studies, Sihlwayi said.

As a result, in 2016 the department put a moratorium on these bursaries to catch up on placing the backlog of existing unemployed graduates.

“It was a painful decision but we looked at the number of graduates who have not been absorbed, plus those who are still studying,” said Sihlwayi.

Sihlwayi’s spokesman, Mzukisi Solani, said although the goal was to have one social worker to every school, the project would naturally prioritise crisis-hit schools.

“We understand that the need is great, but we must first attend to the areas that are currently facing a crisis and are in desperate need of social services.

“Later we will roll it out throughout the province, being sensitive to both budgets and recruitment procedures,” said Solani.