Honourable Deputy Minister of Police, Ms Maggy Sotyu,
MEC for Education in Gauteng, Ms Barbara Creecy,
MEC for Safety and Liaison, Ms Faith Mazibuko,
Principal,
Members of the SGB,
Teacher Unions,
Esteemed learners,
Members of the school community,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Dumelang, Molweni, Ndi Macheroni, Sanibonani, Goeie middag, Heita!
Ladies and gentlemen, our democracy will be 20 years old next year. Many of my generation are still reeling from events that unfolded before, but remain focused on building a country for these young beautiful learners, the nation’s children. We toil everyday guided by Act 108 of 1996, our progressive Constitution that is respected the world over.
As a player in the global community, like any other democracy, South Africa is affected by change and developments in the world, good or bad. Education is not spared from those changes. Our challenge is to remain focused on the vision of creating a better life for all our people.
Our Constitution guarantees the rights of every citizen while demanding that these rights be balanced with corresponding responsibilities. All children have the right to education which is crucial for their development, enabling them to cultivate their creative talents and critical thinking, gain life skills, join hands with friends and develop social relations, and grow with dignity, confidence and self-esteem.
Violence in or around schools is arguably one of the most serious challenges facing young people in South Africa today. Its importance goes beyond the immediate physical harm that can result for the learner, or the psychological harm attached to either direct or indirect victimisation. In fact, the long-term consequences of violence could lead to the unravelling of our proud democracy.
Both direct and indirect violence associated with school often results in truancy from school as learners become too scared to attend or try to avoid the school environment in an attempt to avoid the attendant violence.
This is particularly important in an environment where the completion rate for learners from reception year through to Grade 12 is less than 50%. Related to this – and often precipitating school drop-out – is that school violence often results in a decrease in educational performance as victims battle to focus on content and on their school work in general.
School violence affects not only those who are directly victimised, but also those who witness the violence occurring at schools; creating an atmosphere of fear and apprehension that interferes with the ability to learn.
The relationship between violent victimisation and later aggressive behaviour is well-documented. Those who are victimised at a young age are at greater risk of themselves engaging in violent and anti-social behaviour as they get older. Similarly, those who are bullied at school are at a greater risk of themselves engaging in bullying behaviour.
In a society that is already often perceived both domestically and internationally as being one of the most violent in the world, this in itself justifies concerted action to break the cycle of violence that young people are exposed to – starting with the school environment. School violence can also erode the ability of victims to form healthy, pro-social and trusting relationships with peers and adults. This is predominantly the case when violence is experienced at the hands of adults, particularly those placed in a position of care over the child, such as educators.
Furthermore, such violence (including all forms of corporal punishment) as well as exposure to violence can reinforce the message that violence is the most appropriate way of resolving conflict and instilling discipline – messages that are internalised and acted upon as the young person grows into adulthood.
Finally, violence at school can erode young people’s sense of hope and optimism in their future, and, consequently, their ability to cope with any adversity and difficulties they may face growing up in a social and economic environment that is, at best, challenging.
The above factors are interrelated and cannot be easily isolated: learning outcomes are related to economic potential, as are physical and mental health. When positive, they reflect the fundamental rights of children enshrined in the Constitution and in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; when negative they serve to increase the risk that these rights will be threatened or undermined.
There is, however, a flip side to school violence. Where schools are effectively transformed into places of safety and learning, and into environments where young people feel protected, appreciated and nurtured, the results have consequences far beyond the immediate school environment and extend to the short- and medium-term trajectories of the learners.
Schools and the school body comprising learners, administrators, management and educators – are all an integral part of safety more generally at a community level. As the role of communities and local level crime and violence prevention is increasingly recognised, so too is the role of safe schools as a central component of these strategies.
The creation and maintenance of a safe school environment can be an essential component in shifting the societal values and norms associated with community violence, particularly where schools are located within communities characterised by violence. It is through participation in local safety forums and structures that schools can play an important role in steering communities towards safety.
Finally, schools that drive school safety programmes, in partnership with local partners, like the local government, the police and other stakeholders, can reap tangible benefits for community-level safety beyond the immediate confines of their school, with positive safety outcomes for their own learners and the community in general. Simple examples of this would be engaging with relevant authorities to tackle immediate dangers, such as alcohol and drug sale points in school vicinities, or environmental barriers like long grass and broken street lights relating to safety to and from school.
This last point is of even greater importance in countries or localities characterised by high levels of youth violence in particular. Violence prevention literature is increasingly emphasising the importance of reducing risk factors while concurrently increasing protective or resilience factors in young people. Many of these risk and protective factors lie at the school level. By building resilience at this level, a synergistic impact on other spheres of protective factors can be affected.
School-level risk factors include truancy and drop-out, poor educator–learner bonds and relationships, disorderly school environments, association with delinquent peers, and a negative or harmful school climate. Conversely, school level protective factors include positive educator-learner bonds, academic motivation and success, school discipline and clear rules, non-deviant friends and peers, and involvement in structured pro-social activities.
The Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention (CJCP) recently published the results of the 2012/13 National School Violence Study, which is of major concern to the department. A total number of 5 939 learners, 121 principals and 239 educators comprised the entire study sample. The concerning results speak for itself: 12,2% learners had been threatened with violence at school; 6,3% had been assaulted; 4,7% had been sexually assaulted or raped and 4,5% had been robbed at school.
It is clearly stated that violence in schools was often not one-off encounters. The rate at which learners are repeatedly victimised was pronounced in the case of threat and sexual assault. Females reported higher rates of sexual assault when compared to male learners. Violence occurring at schools was not limited to incidences between learners but also included acts against and by educators. Educators are often victims of verbal abuse (52,1%); physical violence (12,4%), and sexual violence (3,3%) perpetuated by learners. Alcohol, drugs and weapons were easily accessible for many learners.
The Department of Basic Education partnered with the South African Police Services in an effort to promote safer schools and prevent the involvement of young people in crime. This is done through the SAPS Crime Prevention Component (Division: Visible Policing) and the Directorate: Safety in Education (Branch: Social Mobilisation and Support Services).
The Partnership between the two departments aims to promote safer schools and prevent the involvement of young people in crime.
The focus is on the development and support for the implementation of school-based crime prevention programmes to:
- Strengthen Safe School Committees in addressing crime and violence in schools as part of its mandate;
- Police officers to assume an active role as members of Safe School Committees;
- Link all schools to local police stations;
- Raise awareness amongst children regarding crime and violence and its impact on individuals, families and education;
- Mobilise communities to take ownership of schools;
- Encourage the establishment of reporting systems at schools; and
- Implement school-based crime prevention programmes in collaboration with provincial, district/local officials responsible for school safety.
Safety is often a critical obstacle to the holistic development of learners and effective learning and teaching. Crime, violence and abuse affect all aspects of our community, and schools are not always free from fear, intimidation or victimisation. We are working on ensuring that our school environment is conducive for learning and teaching, free from all bad elements.
Prevention and early intervention proves to be the most reliable and cost-effective ways to support schools in consistently delivering teaching and learning in an environment that is physically and socially safe.
In the school environment, members of the SAPS play different roles, one of which is responding to crime and violence that had already occurred, and this is often where many children first encounter the police. The second role is that of crime prevention which can focus on preventing the victimisation of children, preventing the youth from offending and assisting schools in creating a safe and secure environment for the entire school community.
The establishment of Safe School Committees (SSC), as a formal sub-committee of SGBs is imperative to address all safety and security-related issues that affect or can affect the school. For all practical purposes the member of the SAPS becomes a member of the SSC and serves as a link (liaison officer) between the school and the SAPS. Furthermore, the SAPS official becomes a resource to the school on policing, safety and security and crime prevention issues.
To date 18 300 schools have been linked to local police stations and established Safe School Committees as a result of the Partnership Protocol and by the end of March 2014 all schools in the country will be linked to police stations.
As I said earlier, this cannot be left to schools alone, parents and communities surrounding the schools should play an active role in the prevention of crime and violence in schools.
Thank you!
