Parents and community members of Eldorado Park in Johannesburg were not impressed by the heavy presence of the Community Policing Forum (CPF) and police at an event by the basic education department, saying this is all just for show.
Eldorado Park Secondary School acting principal Rebecca Lehlaha said, “Our educators are in danger because the SAPS is scared of the learners. I’ve been with the school for seven years, and gang violence is our main issue.”
She added that “learners are part of gangs, so each time we reprimand them, they go to their boss to come beat us up”.
Yesterday, basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube visited Eldorado Park, where she focused on awareness around school safety and anti-bullying.
“Both parents and the community need to work together in curbing violence. This can only be achieved as a collective.
“The safety of children is a global priority, and SA is not alone in this fight. School safety is not a side issue. It is a precondition for quality education. When schools are unsafe, learning suffers. When learners feel threatened, dignity is stripped away.
“When violence becomes normalised, we fail our children,” Gwarube said.
Lehlala highlighted an incident where an educator was severely beaten with a belt by a pupil. When the incident was reported to the police, no arrest was made.
“I’m shocked to see this number of CPFs and the JMPD. This is for show. They’ll be gone by tomorrow,” she said.
One of the parents, who chose to remain anonymous, said the school itself is disorganised.
“The school has smart learners who produce good results, but it lacks management,” she said.
The EU has committed to contributing €5m (about R95m) to support a national programme aimed at preventing and responding to gender-based violence in South African schools, Gwarube said during a media brief at the secondary school on Monday.
Both parents and the community need to work together in curbing violence. This can only be achieved as a collective.
— Siviwe Gwarube, minister of basic education
She said the money would be used to strengthen several key areas within schools, including teaching pupils about prevention, so that violence can be stopped before it happens.
This includes providing psychosocial support, such as counselling for pupils who experience trauma, improving referral systems so that cases of abuse are properly reported and followed up on, and rolling out school-based interventions that protect pupils.
“The funding is meant to help schools not only react to violence but also prevent it and support learners who are affected,” Gwarube said.
By highlighting the partnership with the EU, Gwarube emphasised that the safety of children is not just a South African issue but a global concern.
She assured the public that the funding would not be wasted or used symbolically and promised that the programme will make a real difference in pupils’ daily lives, rather than existing only on paper.
Police spokesperson Brig Amos Tsotetsi said some issues were not reported to them, which made it hard for the police to tackle criminals.
“There is an integrated crime and violence prevention strategy (ICPVS) document that the community needs to fill in so that we can identify these issues head-on,” he said.
Tsotetsi added that there are plans to prioritise safety in schools.
“We are looking into drawing up a plan to at least have the police visit the school every other week,” he said.
TimesLIVE
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