Nariman Khan, Safe Schools Manager
Educators, learners, Head Office and EMDC officials
Members of all Government Departments
Community Safety Forums
NGO's, CBOs and FBOs
Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
Members of the Youth Commission
Children are the future of any nation and effective learning of these assets has the potential to uplift the quality of life, it can ensure a prosperous economy and it can significantly contribute towards the reconstruction of the South African society after decades of discrimination, violence and human decay.
Unfortunately if one looks at some of our schools in the Western Cape today, one observes human lost, assault, sexual abuse, intimidation, fear, vandalism, gangsterism, substance abuse and many other social ills.
The challenge of building safer learning environments for all our children are huge, and we get constant reminders of the need to speed up our efforts and initiatives to help make this a reality.
By now all of us are aware of the findings of a report by the Human Science Research Council, published in March this year, which indicated that up to 55% of teachers considered leaving the profession, and quite a large number indicated that violence was a mean reason for this. It is frightening but not surprising that the Western Cape tops the list.
In my Budget Speech earlier, I committed myself to reviewing the Safe Schools Programme, with the objective of looking at the gaps and providing additional resources to further equip Safe Schools.
The need for this is evident in the shocking statistics provided by the Safe Schools Call Centre. From the beginning of this year until the end of July, 1,580 cases were reported, of which some for the following reasons: abuse 466; crime 173; burglary/vandalism 139; and gang violence 84. The bulk of these were from the metropolitan areas.
Crime creates unnecessary expenses related to the maintenance of infrastructure, human resource costs and the loss of opportunities. Education is directly threatened through the loss of learning and teaching time, through the negative impact on the resilience of educators, learners and through the damage of property.
Our educators on the Cape Flats have to work under the constant fear of gangsters and criminal syndicates intimidating them, and this has a negative psychological impact on them and on our children.
Several schools on the Cape Flats are surrounded by a number of gangs. In some instances, gangs are bordering the perimeter fence of the school and often gang violence in the community spills over into the school.
I have recently visited several schools, and heard teachers complained that they had to spend the first fifteen minutes of each class just trying to bring the learners to order. Increased aggression amongst learners is ascribed to the increased usage of the drug "tik".
We know that drugs have devastating consequences not only for the user, but also for the families and the broader community. Drug abuse contributes to crime, domestic violence, family disintegration and social problems.
Teachers often complain that they find it difficult to attend to disciplinary issues and at the same time deliver the curriculum. For this reason I am hoping that the appointment and deployment of Learner Support Officers to some schools, will assist with creating a conducive climate.
The key issue is about the prioritisation of safety at schools. The delivery of the curriculum is at the heart of education, but quality learning cannot take place in an unsafe situation.
So, it is not about competition, whether safety or curriculum is the most important, but rather how can role-players, within and outside the school, work together to realise the creation of an environment, conducive to effective learning and teaching.
The fact that the officials from our department cannot always be immediately available, means that schools have to take ownership in their development by embracing legal principles, policies, departmental guidelines, to build capacity and to build sustainable structures in partnership with other state institutions, civil society organisations, business and the community. It is also important for us to listen to schools, about their frustration and recommendations for policy development.
Prior to 1994 most schools were used as "sites of struggle" to transform a racist ideology into a democratic society where human dignity is valued as a fundamental constitutional right.
Instead of equipping learners with skills and confidence needed to meet life's challenges, to build the economy and lead productive lives, schools often become places of crime and trauma.
It is exactly for these reasons that the new government institutionalised safety as a national priority to counter the reality of violence in schools and to build safe and tolerate learning environments, where one can celebrate innocence and value human dignity.
The White Paper, 1995, Chapter 4.16 acknowledges that the: "... education system must counter the legacy of violence by providing the values underlining the democratic process and the charter of fundamental rights, the importance of due process of law and the exercise of civic responsibility and by teaching values and skills for conflict management and conflict resolution, the importance of mediation and the benefits of tolerance and cooperation. Thus, peace and stability will become the normal condition of our schools and colleagues, and citizens will be empowered to participate confidently and constructively in social and civic life."
In launching the TIRISANO: Call to Action Plan in 1999, former Education Minister Kader Asmal, identified school safety as a critical obstacle to learning and embarked on strategies to free school communities from the risk of victimisation.
As a response to this call regulations for safety measures at public schools as contained in a Government Notice was promulgated, the South African Schools Act was promoted and the values in the Occupational Health and Safety Act were advocated.
The National Department of Education (DoE) and the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) adhered to this call to build safe schools through the institutionalisation of policies and other preventative education strategies.
This inter-governmental relationship produced a resource document called 'Signpost for Safe Schools', which is based on Safety Legislation, successful interventions and recommendation on how to build a safe school.
The WCED proactively continued with this and produced a "Manual on Managing Safety and Security" in close co-operation with teachers unions such as the South African Teachers Union. They also launched a provincial call centre for schools to report crime and violence related data or to get online help immediately.
Our Safe Schools Programme strives to create centres of excellence with strong community links, quality learning and teaching and effective management and governance, and in so doing, combat the root causes of crime, violence and devious behaviour.
The challenge facing our schools cannot be dealt with in education alone, and requires an integrated response guided by partnerships at local and provincial level.
This conference is therefore aimed at constructing a network of social partners, with which we can jointly work towards creating a safer learning environment for all our learners.
I am deeply concerned about the increasingly violent crime, and believe that we have to engage in discussions to find additional and/or alternative ideas in creating safer learning environments.
I trust that all of you will make use of this platform today, to voice the challenges you face on a daily basis and to make suggestions with regard to practical solutions to the problems. Each one of us have a role to play to reduce crime and violence.
I therefore look forward to the collaborative discussions and am positive about building cooperative partnerships that will ensure effective service delivery with regard to safety to our schools and school communities.
I believe that we can and must do more.
Thank you..
