The forensics team at the scene of the crime where a teacher was killed inside the school premises. Picture: Doctor Ngcobo/Independent Newspapers
In response to growing concerns about school safety and the need to foster a conducive learning environment, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Education Sipho Hlomuka has announced a School Safety Conference.
“Schools are considered sacred places of teaching and learning and, as such, we as a department are very concerned about the recent rise in the levels of school violence that has rocked and sent shock waves across the province of KwaZulu-Natal. We have to work with all stakeholders, including law enforcement agencies, to curb the rise in school violence and crime,” said Hlomuka.
Following the death of a Grade R teacher, Dudu Khumalo, 46, who was shot and killed inside the premises of Phikiswayo Primary School in Ntuzuma on Monday morning, teacher’s unions have called for the Department of Education to beef-up security in schools.
The school principal, Mthokozisi Mchunu, said that the death of the educator in front of the learners was very traumatic.
“Miss Khumalo was shot in full view of the learners. These thugs came in, pretending as if they came to drop off a learner in Grade R. Little did we know that they had come to kill. It was clear that they had been targeting her, because they went straight to her class,” said Mchunu.
The South African Democratic Teacher’s Union (Sadtu) said that it had long been raising concerns about the safety of learners and education workers in schools. However, the Department of Education in the province has not taken any action to address these concerns.
“In our memorandum of demands that was presented to the MEC and premier during our march in October 2023, which was duly received, the matter was on top of the agenda, and the Department of Education, working together with the Department of Community Safety and Liaison in the province, was supposed to act on it with the speed it required.
“However, up until this time, regardless of Sadtu’s numerous calls to have a schools’ safety and security indaba to discuss and come up with possible programmes to deal with this pandemic, the department seems to have a low appetite for attending to this, while our members continue to be the subjects of crime and sacrificial lambs of killers,” stated Sadtu.
National Teacher’s Union president Sbusiso Malinga said that as the union, they are devastated to hear such reports and they will continue to advocate for safer schools.
“How many more teachers should die on school premises before the Department of Education realises the necessity to put safety and security measures in schools?
Trained security personnel would have recognised and searched these men before authorising them entry into the school,” said Malinga.
Nkosinathi Mchunu, the head of department (HOD) of the KZN Department of Education, on Tuesday visited the school to address the situation. The department has dispatched psychosocial services to assist with counselling the staff and learners.
During the engagement between the HOD and the staff, the teachers raised concerns over their safety. One of the teachers said she also recalls being hijacked at gunpoint inside the school.
“As teachers in South Africa, we are not safe in our schools. It is not only in our school, but other schools as well, we hear it happens.”
The DA KZN spokesperson on Education, Sakhile Mngadi, said the incident highlights ongoing safety and security concerns at public schools in the province.
“A late 2023 study conducted by Statistics SA revealed that KZN had the highest percentage of children who experienced violence at school – 35.1%.
This shows that the incident at Phikiswayo Primary School is a microcosm of a major systemic issue that must be urgently addressed.
“Exposure to violence can harm a child’s emotional, psychological and even physical development. Children exposed to violence are more likely to have difficulty in school, abuse drugs or alcohol, behave aggressively, suffer from depression or other mental health problems and engage in criminal behaviour as adults,” said Mngadi.
The DA also called for ongoing trauma counselling and assessments for the learners and educators at the school.
In separate incidents, a learner at Gedlembane High School in Aldie, Mpumalanga, was killed on July 26 in a dispute over a boyfriend. Another learner, at Sihlahlasenkosi High School in Kwa Musi, near Nongoma, was fatally stabbed in a classroom on July 29.
“These incidents are worrying signs, highlighting a concerning breakdown in the values of respect, tolerance and empathy among our youth,” said MEC Hlomuka.
“The fact that weapons are being carried into schools is deeply disturbing and demands urgent attention.
We call upon parents and guardians to take responsibility for the safety of our children by thoroughly checking their belongings for any dangerous items.”
The Mercury