Taking Action For Safe & Secure Schools!

Over the years, South African schools have seen an increase in violence (physical, verbal etc.). Both the teachers and learners fear for their safety. Whether tachers as perpetrators of violence or the learners themselves, schools are no longer a safe environment for learning.
A study by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), 2008, revealed that over 40% of teachers who participated in the study did not feel safe in their schools they taught and "Almost one in ten (8,9%) of school principals at primary schools reported cases where pupils inflicted, or attempted to inflict, physical harm on their teachers." Also reported  by the  SAIRR, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study revealed that only 23% of South African learners feel highly safe in school, which could mean that over 70% of learners do not feel safe in school.
The most recent case of violence in school includes an 18yr. learner who slashed the throat of one of his schools mates with a sword, killing him and injuring three others.
A variety of speculations are reported regarding the causes and influences of violence in schools. Institutions of Government and Civil Society should heed to the voices of the learners and teachers who have to live with this daunting reality everyday on the possible solutions to the matter and further strengthen a partnership to combating the violence!
It is ecouranging that the CJCP in partnership with the Department of Education, the Open Society Foundation of Southeren Africa and the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention formed a partnership called "Hlayiseka" which is a Shangaan word for "Be Safe". The project is being piloted and in three of the South African Provinces and it's main focus is on the use of a toolkit which enables schools to identy threats of violece and manage their responses.
It is with the hope of this pertition that the process is sped up and that the project and many others will become sustainable.