The latest research by Equal Education (EE) has found that drug abuse remains the biggest threat to pupils’ safety, while schools reported incidents of stabbings and physical assault.
Also read: More primary school pupils test positive for drugs
This is according to the EE’s latest report on school safety in the Western Cape, titled ‘iSafety Ngoku: Seeking Sanctuary in Western Cape Schools’.
The report highlights a series of school inspections that took place in August and September 2019 in an effort to assess safety conditions at 40 schools across four school districts in Cape Town.
‘At the school level, some of the key problems identified include inadequate perimeter security infrastructure; a lack of safety training and support for school officials to enable them to develop and implement safety strategies; and inadequate access to psychosocial support,’ the report stated.
‘Schools reported receiving significant reports on incidents of physical assault resulting in serious injury to a learner (20%), stabbings (38%), sexual harassment (23%), physical assault against a teacher by a learner (18%), and physical assault resulting in significant injury to a teacher (8%).’
‘The biggest threats to learners’ safety in schools were identified as; drug use (85%); theft of personal property (63%); alcohol use (53%); gang violence (53%); burglary (53%), and significant vandalism (50%).’
Speaking to IOL, Ravensmead community activist Dawn Marcus said that gangsterism was a major concern in their area as it spilled over at schools, but there was only one safety officer servicing eight schools.
‘De La Rey road separates (gang) territories, and factions, so they end up fighting, especially if something happened over a weekend, they bring the fight to school,’ she said. ‘Schools cannot dismiss this, at the same time, because if something happens on that side, it falls over to the other side.’
‘Children get off taxis, they get robbed. There isn’t even a safety plan as there was an incident where two guys were shot dead earlier this year so it came to school. Teachers were petrified because the learners’ parents are involved in gangsterism. The decision-making people don’t know the culture of our communities.’
Meanwhile, Western Cape Education MEC David Maynier said that the department planned to spend R76.1 million this year on securing schools.
‘We are committed to constructing secure fencing at 30 schools every year for five years,” the MEC confirmed.
‘We are also expanding the number of School Resource Officers in our schools, which are law enforcement officers stationed at our schools to tackle crime and safety matters.’
‘This year, we will fund an additional 18 School Resource Officers, bringing the total number of officers deployed in our schools to 46.’
‘And next year, we will add another 18. And the year after that, another 18, for a total of 82 officers in our schools.’
‘And we will continue our investment into access control, holiday security, emergency security, youth development, and crime prevention activities in our schools,’ he said.
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Police raid uncovers drugs and weapons at Cape Town high schools
Picture: Unsplash
