The number of schoolchildren bunking from 15 Johannesburg schools for drinking sessions has doubled in recent months, police said on Wednesday.
The head of Johannesburg’s Adopt-a-Cop programme, Inspector Alpheus Matsaba, said Gandhi Square has become a hotbed of drugs, rape and alcohol misuse, despite frequent arrests.
Matsaba said police have identified 15 schools in Johannesburg whose pupils are the worst.
”During police raids at the beginning and end of the month we now arrest about 400 pupils in both raids. At first we would arrest about 64. We cannot handle this any more,” Matsaba said.
Adopt-a-Cop is a programme run at Johannesburg central police station educating pupils on the consequences of criminal behaviour.
The parents of the drunken pupils are then called into the station to pay a R100 fine for admission of guilt.
Matsaba said the problem has become intolerable, so a fresh approach is needed.
Because a few hours in jail have not curbed the situation, Matsaba said, police decided to address some of the pupils’ social problems through their new youth desk.
He said the principals of the ”problematic” schools cannot control their pupils. The Department of Education also has to step in to bring order.
Police also said girls as young as 12 and 13 get too drunk and fall asleep on the pavement, making them possible victims of rape.
Gauteng education spokesperson Thebe Mohatle said the department acknowledges the problematic situation at Gandhi Square and is engaging the principals of various schools on the issue.
”Pupils go there in huge numbers just to consume alcohol. This cannot be tolerated. Hence, we have informed the national Department of Education of the crisis,” Mohatle said.
He said the department is still looking into methods that could curb this long-standing problem, ”which has already reached crisis stage”. — Sapa