Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has outlined measures put in place to ensure the safety of teachers and pupils at schools.
This comes after DA MP Marina van Zyl wrote to Motshekga, asking about the full details of her department’s plan to ensure the safety of staff and learners at educational facilities across the country.
Van Zyl noted that the SAPS crime statistics revealed there were seven murders, 24 attempted murders and 252 cases of assault with intent of grievous bodily harm committed on educational premises between October 2023 and December 2023.
She said the crime statistics showed 38 pupils between Grades 1 and 12, six pupils with special educational needs and six day and aftercare children were raped in the same period.
In her response, Motshekga said the national and provincial departments continued to implement the National School Safety Framework (NSSF).
She said the NSSF was a guiding framework in addressing all forms of violent incidences in schools, including drug abuse.
“The NSSF empowers schools to identify and manage all safety threats, and establish school safety committees comprising stakeholders such as teachers, police officers, school governing body members and learner representative council members.
“The NSSF also empowers schools to develop incident reporting mechanisms, establish collaborations with external stakeholders such as the SAPS, the Department of Social Development and civil society organisations, and develop school safety plans and policies to respond to safety challenges of violence in schools for both learners and educators.”
Motshekga said through the implementation of the NSSF, access control measures in schools were strengthened and awareness programmes on social ills by partner departments and civil society organisations were implemented in schools.
The minister also said her department has an established protocol with the SAPS to address crime and violence in schools.
“The protocol has enabled all schools to be linked to their local police stations and for the SAPS to conduct searches and seizures in schools and conduct crime awareness campaigns in schools.
“Regularly, schools work with the SAPS and local community police forums and social workers to address violent incidents such as gangsterism, bullying, drug abuse and the carrying of dangerous weapons in schools.
The SAPS identifies hot-spot areas and informs the provincial education departments of such areas and this enables the department to procure metal detectors for schools in those areas.”
Motshekga indicated that the department continued to implement the life skills and life orientation curriculum in classrooms, which was the main lever for preventing violence in schools among learners.
“The Department of Basic Education implements this curriculum and assessment policy statement annually and it covers the following violence related topics: bullying, drugs and substance abuse, gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy prevention.”
According to Motshekga, her department has developed a protocol for management and reporting of sexual abuse and harassment in schools.
This provided schools, districts and provinces with standard operating procedures when addressing allegations of sexual abuse and harassment, and to specifically detail how schools must respond to reports of sexual abuse and harassment perpetrated against pupils and school staff.
“This protocol sets out an approach that enables educators and employees of the Department of Basic Education to identify, intervene, report and provide support to all learners who are abused or harassed in school.”
Cape Times