Plea to protect teachers, pupils
Spotlight on social ills and lack of security
sne-masuku@inl.co.za THE burning question these past few months in light of the surge in school violence has been: “What is driving bad behaviour at schools?”
While education stakeholders have differing views, they all agree that school violence is a societal matter, deeply rooted in community dynamics.
They say learners are not immune to social ills and, as a result, schools become the playground for criminals, drugs and violence.
They question why some schools are extremely disciplined, achieve excellent results and practise the highest ethical standards, while others in the same area are the total opposite.
The violence that broke out last month at two schools in KwaMakhutha and one in Inanda, both in KwaZulu-Natal, which left three learners dead and one injured, raised concerns about the level of violence at schools.
The fatal stabbing of a teacher in North West last week sparked concerns of teachers working in constant fear.
Gadimang Daniel Mokolobate, 24, died after being stabbed several times in the chest last Thursday.
The incident sparked much debate on social media about what needs to be done to beef up security at schools.
Suggestions included that teachers be armed for their protection. Others joked about classrooms having a fence between the teacher and learners.
The Congress of SA Students (Cosas) said the level of violence at schools was a reflection of what was happening in society.
John Macheke, Cosas’s president, said learners from violent homes and violence- and drug-infested communities would take those social ills to school.
“This is a problem that is deeply rooted in our society. It does not begin at school.
“Parents should play the biggest role. The circumstances at home play the biggest part in how a learner behaves at school. The problem could be that the social ills experienced today are different from what children in school in 2010 experienced,” said Macheke.
Allen Thompson, the president of the National Teachers’ Union, said the lack of security at schools helped perpetuate violence because learners knew that teachers had no means of dealing with them.
“Our teachers work under lifethreatening situations. The lack of security drives learners’ bad behaviour even further,” said Thompson.
He said the department had frozen security posts for many years, resulting in fewer schools with guards.
“We had proposed that each school have one guard for every 300 learners.
“We have been pleading with the department to respond to violence by making sure that schools have minimum security,” said Thompson.
“School safety has been neglected for too long, and that is what drives learners’ bad behaviour.”