The imagination of the country has been captured by the ongoing spate of violence and abuse within the schooling environment.
The National School Safety Framework which should be implemented by all schools has not been workshopped by all, and to date 9 894 (40.5%) of the approximately 25 000 public schools have not yet been trained.
This is indicative of the lack of will by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the provinces as this process will only be finalised in the 2018/19 financial year.
In a democratic society like ours and a Constitution that has established the rights of everyone to“equal protection and the benefit of the law”all stakeholders have the right and must deal with these abuses.
To name but a few, there are reasons for the failure of schools and provincial departments to exercise their responsibilities, namely
- Gross underreporting of incidents due to poor and ineffective management systems at schools and provinces;
- The lack of will to investigate these cases and the possible bribing of parents by the perpetrator;
- Learners finding it difficult to speak out for fear of retaliation and the stigma that may be attached to them;
- The fear of not being believed;
- The fear of being blamed for the abuse;
- The power relation often intimidates the learners into silence, where the educator is the abuser;
- The lack of counselling and assistance, and
The inability of most learners to talk about sexual matters with adults, for cultural or other reasons. The South African Council of Educators (SACE), a statutory body within the DBE dealing with the vetting and verification of educators, and the investigation of all cases referred to them, have on numerous occasions indicated that they do not have the capacity to execute their mandate properly.
Currently the ethics department has the services of only three full time prosecutors and two full time investigators to handle these cases.
The appointment of more panelists will not assist in eradicating the backlog of cases. They need more full time prosecutors and investigators who must assist with these cases to ensure that perpetrators face the might of the law.
Those found guilty should be placed on the Child Protection Register or the Sexual Offenders Register if they meet the conditions, and their SACE certificates should be withdrawn.
Honourable Chair, our learners are on a trial of survival in unsafe schooling environments and invariably drop out due to the lack of support and become a statistical figure.
The DBE must admit that they have not adequately addressed their failures in creating a safe schooling
environment.
Honourable Chair, the Western Cape Education Department is the only provincial department with a Safe Schools Hotline playing an important and dedicated role in addressing the relevant needs, where reporting on all school crime and abuse can be made with immediate assistance. It would bode well if all provinces followed suit.
In closing, the DA has launched its Safe Schools campaign with seven strategic points on how to create a
safe environment for our learners and asks that this campaign be adopted by the DBE and rolled out to
provinces to ensure the well-being of our learners.