Shot dead in his school desk: The blood-stained book of Howard Mackenzie who was a victim of gang warfare and school violence in the Western Cape. l ANNE LAING/FILE
Johannesburg - The safety of pupils and teachers has become a concern in schools nationwide. In the last few years, there has been an alarming rise in death tolls and violent attacks on teachers and learners.
In January last year, a teacher in Tembisa, Gauteng, was gunned down on the school premises by an unknown assailant. In the Free State, a 20-year-old learner fatally stabbed a teacher in October.
In November, the South African Police Services (SAPS) released crime stats that showed that 19 murders had been committed at educational facilities across the country.
In April of the same year, reports indicated that 33 teaching staff members were seriously attacked in the Western Cape alone between 2016 and 2022. Moreover, it has barely been two months into the 2023 academic year, but at least six violent incidents have already been reported in schools across the country.
The latest is that of a teacher in Kagiso Secondary school who shot a man who allegedly threatened the school’s principal life. It is alleged that the attacker entered the school and took some staff members hostage before stabbing and wounding one of the teachers.
Fortunately for the principal, whose life seemed to be in danger, one of the teachers drew his gun and fatally shot the attacker. This raised the question of whether the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is doing enough to ensure the safety of educators and learners on school grounds.
Expressing its concern and frustration about the disturbing rise in violent acts in schools, teaching union Sadtu said in a statement on Tuesday that these incidents indicated that schools were no longer safe havens. The lives of teachers and pupils were endangered.
“Our schools do not have enough infrastructure to ensure learners, teachers, and communities do not bring weapons to schools. We call for properly trained security personnel to oversee security in school,” read parts of the statement.
In addition to Sadtu’s sentiments on poor school infrastructure, the Public Servants Association of South Africa’s (PSA) acting assistant general manager, Claude Naiker, said corruption and maladministration were the major contributing factors to the Department of Education’s lack of financial resources that are needed to improve security in schools.
Naiker said that to address the issue at hand, society and the education department had to work together to alleviate school violence.
“The key issue is that the department must first develop a platform where the community can report these incidents or identify perpetrators without fear of victimisation and death threats. (There must also be) increase in security and proper training of security personnel,” he said.
The union said that the ongoing lack of resources and overcrowding, bullying and gangsterism were serious issues seen in these schools. Naiker pointed out that although schools were meant to be weapon-free zones, teachers armed themselves because they felt completely unsafe.
When speaking about the incident in Kagiso, Naiker, said although schools were meant to be weapon-free zones, educators were now doing everything in their power to protect themselves against any possible harm.
“The educator has lost confidence in the department and had no option to ensure that he protects himself,” he said. In 2020, the PSA launched a #SchoolSafety program in partnership with the DBE, the SAPS, and Old Mutual as part of its behaviour-changing initiative, where the parties visit schools to engage and motivate learners to avoid engaging in violent activities.
The Department of Education said the main hurdle it experienced when dealing with violent incidents in schools was the lack of involvement from community members.
“Schools belong to communities that must be at the forefront of securing their schools. The department has policies, but communities are responsible for ensuring their people's safety. The South African Schools Act empowers schools to take charge of their environments and to work with the relevant authorities,” said the department’s spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga.