Gangs, drugs and violence plague Ekurhuleni schools, education imbizo hears

Some teachers assist pupils in hiding drugs and weapons during school searches, imbizo on school safety in Gauteng hears

Gangsterism, drugs and violence have plagued some Ekurhuleni schools and while private security and patrollers conduct searches, some teachers help pupils to hide illicit substances and weapons.

The Gauteng education department held an imbizo on school safety in Ekurhuleni on Saturday after identifying 55 high-risk schools out of 700 schools in the region.

A large majority of the schools were in the Gauteng east district which had 27 high-risk schools followed by the Ekurhuleni south district with 15 and Ekurhuleni north with 13 high-risk schools.

Brenda Machoma of the KwaThema community policing forum told MEC Matome Chiloane that while school safety concentrated on pupils, some teachers were also a bad influence as they assisted pupils in concealing drugs and weapons during searches.

“In a classroom, the children would be using windows [to throw things out] while the teacher is present and they don’t even care to notify the officers that are searching. If it were up to me, I would say the search should not only be done on children but teachers too. Teachers are not searched and that encourages them to hide stuff,” she said.

Chiloane called on law enforcement agencies, which also attended the imbizo,  to extend their searches to teachers and all staff who were present on the school premises at the time of the search and seizures.

“You search everyone including the principal. No one is left behind. I am not saying I don’t trust teachers but they must also follow the queue. Even the school governing body (SGB) members who are there on the day must be searched ... We can’t have accusations that teachers take things from children and say they will keep them safe. It means it’s a syndicate. Even myself, if I am at a school on the day but not part of the search, I must be searched”.

According to another speaker, Glen Patience, a teacher at Boksburg High School had been reported numerous times for inappropriately speaking to girl pupils but nothing has been done.

“He is still in the school and has not been suspended. There are five reports from female [pupils] that he has been inappropriate and he is still in the school,” Patience said.

Chiloane said this would be immediately investigated sat as Monday marks the start of the 16 days of activism against women and child abuse.

“I want him on Monday. We are two days from 16 days of activism and we can’t have such teachers. A teacher is a role model and a parent to a child. Once they start crossing the line, we need to set examples. That teacher won’t be there [back at the school].”

Patience brought to the MEC’s attention a case of a pupil who faced five cases of assaulting other pupils. An expulsion request was sent to the department but while waiting for approval, the pupil continued to assault another two pupils, he said.

“We are still waiting for the expulsion. This is a child we cannot handle any more. He has not attended a single exam this year. Are we going to be forced to progress him? This is a concern to us.”

Gangsterism played a big part in school violence as many pupils in Ekurhuleni joined gangs, the MEC told the imbizo.

He said some of these gangs even have names such as the Boefs, the Amabutho and the El Francisco. Some pupils joined gangs for safety reasons to avoid being attacked and bullied by gangs.

“I am flagging them so that you know. If your child comes and speaks about these gang names, you must know that your child is either part of a gang or currently being attacked and bullied by a gang.

“We know there is an increase in children fighting in schools. The degree of violence has gotten bad as they use knives and weapons. The aggression when children fight is of great concern. Children have been fighting in schools for years but now the way they fight is a matter of life and death.”

He said the department had implemented interventions, including deploying private security and crime wardens to the high-risk schools. However, this was a temporary arrangement. These security personnel would only occupy the schools for a month or two until safety concerns are were stabilised, Chiloane said.

However, the department was considering introducing trained guard dogs to secure schools at night to avoid vandalism of school property.

“We are going to phase it in to see how it works because there has been success in some areas of using dogs to protect the premises against vandalism. I don’t want to be dealing with an issue of dogs biting children so we will get trained dogs.”

He, however, called on parents to be more involved in their children’s lives and academic careers and instil discipline and respect to allow teachers to focus on educating pupils.

“We can’t teach your child if your child has no respect ... Parents, you need to actively participate in the life of your child. It’s December now and some parents will only see the child’s report for the first time to ask if they passed or failed ... Parents, you are what we need to come aboard so that we can get our children right and our schools right,” he said.

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