When high school principal Velaphi Mthembu started to get death threats and found himself living in fear of violent skirmishes, he organised a fierce counterattack to protect his students and staff.
Under a zero tolerance policy for criminal behaviour, pupils at ED Mashabane Secondary School in the poor black township of Evaton near Johannesburg were recruited to expose troublemaking peers.
Undercover police officers were invited to hide in toilet stalls and nab students who had skipped class to puff on marijuana joints, and to arrest pupils who brandished weapons like steel desk legs, broomsticks and knives.
Mthembu even ferried young offenders to the police station in the boot of his car.
”School enrolment has dropped to 600 from 900 students over the last year. Most of those [dropouts] weren’t learners,” said Mthembu, holding up like a trophy a cloth bag of confiscated marijuana stored in his office filing cabinet.
”They were selling dagga or here to cause trouble. When they saw I was in business with the police, they left school. It’s still a dangerous place but there is more order.”
The alarming level of classroom violence in South Africa mirrors a wider problem in a country with some of the world’s highest rates of violent crime. Many blame the violence on inadequate policing, a wide chasm between rich and poor and the traumatic legacy of apartheid.
Teachers warn that schoolyard crime is contributing to the decline in education standards, also blamed on staff shortages, an HIV/Aids epidemic that has struck down many teachers, overcrowded classrooms and a lack of textbooks.
Tough measures
The problem rose to the top of the political agenda in recent weeks after a spate of fatal school stabbings where teenage pupils were both the perpetrators and victims.
In response, South African Education Minister Naledi Pandor reminded headmasters of their search-and-seize powers for weapons and illegal drugs and said she was considering tough new measures including random drug testing of pupils.
Pandor’s department is in the final stage of drafting ”priority” legislation to tighten security, which could propose installing metal detectors, X-ray machines, and security cameras in schools, a ministry spokesperson said.
Pandor has previously warned that the poor quality of public education will threaten future growth if not corrected.
While separate education based on race has been eliminated in democratic South Africa, the impact of apartheid-era policies still lingers, and the government has been accused of neglecting public schools, especially in poor townships.
Authorities have also struggled to offer quality education in rural areas, although school fees have been abolished in around a quarter of schools, those that are most needy.
Police reports indicate that unruly behaviour and sexual violence plague both under-resourced schools in poor areas and more elite private schools in major cities.
The South African Human Rights Commission recently held two days of public hearings into school-based violence and its final report, due early next year, is expected to stoke public debate over the Bill, judging by the number of written submissions to the commission.
This is all welcome news for teachers at Botlehadi Primary School, also in Evaton, where two 12-year-old students recently beat each other with steel rods in a fight over money.
”We notified their parents but no one came. Educators are helpless when it comes to discipline,” said Clement Nkhumese, head of department at Botlehadi. ”I don’t think we should be using corporal punishment but current methods are ineffective.”
More than bullying
About 10% of assaults against children in South Africa happen in schools, with the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town reporting 441 incidents between 1991 and 2002 including rape, strangulation and assault with an iron bar.
Countless other cases are believed to go unreported.
”In the grim suburbs and townships, there is little entertainment for children — no sports clubs or playgrounds. We must make the community work together to reduce violence,” said Sebastian van As, of the hospital’s trauma unit.
Increased parental and community involvement in the lives of children and peer mentorship programmes could create a more productive learning environment, he said.
Van As is among those who warn stepped-up security could backfire, arguing that pupils who are expelled are at greater risk of delinquency and that lockdowns only heighten anxiety among students.
”We worry about responding to this with police measures. Children need a safer learning environment not one of fear,” said Penny Dlamini, of the Johannesburg-based Soul City Institute, which focuses on youth issues.
But some who have been victims of school violence say a soft touch will never work.
Alvaro Manana (16) was threatened with knives and verbally abused until he fought back.
”It’s not right that people don’t feel safe when all they want do is learn,” he said. – Reuters