School violence on the rise
VIOLENCE involving pupils in and out of school premises is a cause for concern, experts are warning.
The country is still reeling at the gruesome incident in Limpopo in which a group of teenagers, including a girl, allegedly beat a man to death.
Twenty-eight-year-old Thoriso Themane was allegedly beaten, stoned and dragged onto a public road in Flora Park, Polokwane, while other pupils filmed it as it was happening.
Six teenagers were arrested and appeared in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. One of them had been captured on video saying he was untouchable because his father was a high-ranking police officer.
Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation executive director Nomfundo Mogapi said that as much as these incidents were worrying, there wasn’t necessarily a spike in occurrences.
“This is not a new phenomenon, it’s something we have been concerned about for a long time. Recently, there’s been more reporting and more highlighting of these cases, especially with South Africans increasingly using social media,” she said.
Institute of Race Relations (IRR) policy fellow Sara Gon said the proliferation of cellphones made it easy to record a violent incident and post it, which in turn made it easy to be aware of incidents that we wouldn’t have known about 10 years ago.
Mogapi said it was worrying that violence had become normalised, considering the lack of sustained interventions.
“What is happening is indicative of the increase in violence in SA generally, and, of course, this is reflected in recent police crime statistics and the Statistics South Africa Victims of Crime Survey report.
“All indicate that violence is on the increase. The biggest concern is that one would expect a formal institution, like a school, to have a layer of protection.”
Mogapi highlighted research showing that exposure to violence at home and in the community was a risk factor as it could lead to modelling of the behaviour, and that illegal drug use could also lead to aggressive conduct.
“More young people are being exposed to violence… within our homes and communities and also on TV. Parents do not have time to monitor their children,” she added.
The recent South African Child Gauge report published by the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town painted a disturbing picture of children’s exposure to violence.
The report indicated that 25% to 45% of children witness domestic violence, making them more likely to become violent adults themselves.
“In addition to direct experiences of abuse during childhood, indirect exposure to violence causes bystander trauma, increasing the risk for violence perpetration and victimisation later in life,” the report stated.
Mogapi also mentioned that most children who have been exposed to trauma do not receive psychosocial support.
“A lot of children are exposed to trauma and most of our schools do not have psychosocial support.
“Also, most teachers say that they don’t know any other way of disciplining children other than giving them a hiding.”
Meanwhile, National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) general secretary Matakanye Matakanye said firm parenting and parental involvement was needed.
The NASGB was forming a national structure to co-ordinate all provinces with a view to swiftly addressing these kind of problems.
“We are going to ensure we link all schools with police stations. From there, we are going to have committees in schools that will be made up of police, parents, teachers, pupils and community members to respond to the violence,” said Matakanye.
He added that another contributing factor was that the country’s violent past was still deeply entrenched in society today. |