The classroom by its very nature is supposed to be an environment of nurturing and education; therefore, rendering it one of the safest place we can imagine for children to be reared to adulthood and educated for a better future for all.
But the South African schooling environment has often proved to be anything but safe for pupils, with countless stories making it into headline news as the ills of our society have almost inevitably made it into what should be a sacrosanct space.
This publication has often highlighted the safety and security challenges faced by schools and other places of learning such as university campuses and kindergarten in the hope that those with power to bring meaningful change would eventually find it in themselves to do something about it.
However, sometimes the problem might well be inbred, and not necessarily spilling into our schools from elsewhere. A case in point was a report we carried on our platforms yesterday when we carried a report on rising cases of sexual abuse in schools involving teachers – people who should know better and therefore are trusted by society to be the custodians of our children for the larger part of any working day.
Responding to a question in parliament, minister of basic education Angie Motshekga revealed that 191 cases of sexual abuse were reported in schools last year, 22 cases more than those recorded in the 2021 financial year. Both years were shockingly much higher than the 92 cases that came to light in 2019/2020. The figures all added up to a grand total of 452 cases of such misconduct involving teachers.
It has also emerged that the SA Council for Educators (Sace) conducted hearings into a paltry 23 cases of the 191, securing 19 convictions of those charged. Yet even more worrying, just a princely sum of four culprits were struck off the educators' roll.
The numbers leave a lot to be desired, and the inaction against culprits makes a mockery of the efficacy of National Register for Sex Offenders that has been in place since 2007.
The failings of Sace in this instance are glaring, despite protestations that often cases fall flat because complainants are reluctant to co-operate during investigations.
We have in this country many good intentions put on paper that are often not followed through by enough effort to turn idealism into reality. This is a typical example, but we dare not lose hope that something will in this instance be done to right these wrongs.
Are you listening Sace? Are you listening Madame Minister?
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