Teachers may search anyone on school property without a search warrant, the Department of Education said in Pretoria on Monday.
”There is an odd belief that schools and teachers have no right to search learners.
”We have never suggested that it is incorrect to search learners. There is, in fact, an obligation to search as far as protecting the safety of other learners,” said Duncan Hindle, Director General of Education, following a meeting with the nine provincial department heads.
Hindle quoted two paragraphs from the Schools Act, stating that a police official, a school principal or a delegate of the principal is allowed — without a warrant — to search school premises or any person on the premises on suspicion of the presence of illegal or dangerous objects.
The meeting followed a month of violence in schools that has resulted in the deaths of at least two pupils and numerous injuries through stabbings and gun violence.
In one incident in KwaZulu-Natal, a Pinetown Boys’ High pupil accidentally shot and injured two of his schoolmates on a bus with an unregistered gun.
In Pretoria, a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death by a fellow pupil at Steve Tshwete Secondary School in Olievenhoutbosch. Another boy, Thulani Shisana (15), was shot dead at Sikhanyisele Primary School in Mamelodi.
Hindle said these incidents will be investigated to ascertain whether they are an indication of increased school violence or simply increased reporting of violence.
He stressed, however, that even a single incident of violence at a school is one too many.
He said department heads have recommended that regulations declaring schools as zones free of drugs, alcohol and dangerous objects be applied to school excursions and transportation to these excursions.
Should the recommendations be approved by the council of education ministers, they would come into effect on their date of publication in the Government Gazette.
Concerning transport on school trips, valid insurance, roadworthiness, vehicle and driving-licence documentation would have to be produced before the trip would be approved, said Hindle.
Despite the measures being taken by the department and schools, the community at large needs to cooperate to make a safe learning environment possible, he said.
”We appeal to the other sections of society to take responsibility and work with schools on this issue. It is not the children who own the guns.
”We appeal to the parents and other people involved with children to cooperate,” Hindle said. — Sapa