Education unions have raised concerns about violent and ill-disciplined pupils attacking and intimidating teaching staff.
The unions said that, while this was a national issue, the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal were the most problematic provinces.
The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) told the Sunday Times it recorded 58 complaints of abuse from members last year.
In a shocking incident this month, a 13-year-old grade 6 pupil allegedly shot the school principal, firing three shots at him at Primrose Primary School in Germiston.
Two weeks ago, a teacher was allegedly viciously assaulted by a grade 7 pupil at Limpopo’s Rammupudu Primary School in Tafelkop.
Three weeks ago in KwaZulu-Natal, Dick Ndlovu High School deputy principal Sandile Mkhize was attacked by a group of former pupils inside the school premises in full view of other pupils and teachers.
If there are serious issues of crime, violence or substance abuse in an area, the schools won’t be exempt from that. Schools are part of the community
— Naptosa executive director Basil Manuel
The brutal assault at the school near Shongweni, west of Durban, was captured on video. About five males between the ages of 16 and 21 are seen beating the deputy principal with sticks and golf clubs.
Sources at the school said the incident happened at about midday on January 31. Mkhize was taken to hospital and returned to school on Friday.
It is alleged the attackers were former “naughty, ill-disciplined” pupils believed to have held a grudge against Mkhize.
A senior school official said it wasn’t clear yet if Mkhize had opened a case of assault with the police.
“It was a shocking thing, and it left us all concerned about our safety. They jumped a fence and attacked him. What was sad was to hear some learners celebrating and screaming ‘hit him’ and ‘serves him right’. We are not sure why he was attacked. This school is based in a very violent community. We believe whatever is happening is linked to the type of community the school is in,” said the school official.
“We are dealing with many learners who are very rude, disrespectful and aggressive. Learners, including grade 8s, bring knives and drugs to school, and I can’t tell you the [number] of fights we are experiencing. We live in a world of violent young people, but it all starts at home,” said a source.
The school’s governing body chair, Khabzela Mzimela, said they understood Mkhize had tried to discipline one of the boys at the school after he was found selling drugs in the toilets.
The pupil allegedly returned with former pupils and some unknown men with covered faces and attacked Mkhize.
“It’s a sad situation. These criminals cut the fence and entered the school. We had to call a meeting between parents, teachers and the community last week to discuss a way forward. After the incident, teachers feared for their lives and didn’t want to teach. We have serious issues of ill-disciplined pupils, and there is a problem of drugs,” said Mzimela.
They have encouraged parents to discipline their children and not leave the responsibility to teachers.
Mzimela said he understood Mkhize had yet to open a case of assault, but the governing body would open a case of trespassing.
Naptosa executive director Basil Manuel said the issue was “huge”, as incidents were not only reported in high schools but in primary schools, where pupils were expected to be more disciplined and respectful towards teachers.
He attributed the issue to the impact on children of “a violent society”.
“If there are serious issues of crime, violence or substance abuse in an area, the schools won’t be exempt from that. Schools are part of the community.
“The problem is that we have a lot of incidents not reported. This means the situation could be far worse than we know it to be. In some incidents, teachers get pushed, punched, slapped or threatened with a weapon by learners,” said Manuel.
South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) national spokesperson Nomusa Cembi called upon the government to reassess security at schools.
Cembi said their teachers were not only experiencing violence from pupils, but also from community members who attacked and robbed them at school.
“We need to revisit the issue of having well-trained security guards in schools to ensure the safety of teachers. The community, parents and the department need to work together in promoting discipline and fighting crime,” said Cembi.
KwaZulu-Natal department of education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said they were aware of the attack on Mkhize and had offered him psychological assistance.
Mahlambi said the department was concerned about the attacks on teachers by pupils and some community members.
We need to revisit the issue of having well-trained security guards in schools to ensure the safety of teachers. The community, parents and the department need to work together in promoting discipline and fighting crime
“We don’t have an answer to the question as to what should be done. We so wish that we had a solution to the issue of crime and the safety of our educators, but we don’t. This starts in homes within our community, and schools will experience the same,” said Mahlambi.
The Limpopo education department said it had noticed an increase in violent attacks at schools in recent years, though it did not have figures.
“Schools are faced with challenges — for example, stabbing, assault, sexual harassment, sexual abuse and bullying,” Limpopo education department spokesperson Matome Taueatsoala said.
The pupil from Rammupudu Primary School had an altercation with his teacher after the removal of posters from the classroom, he said.
The boy went home but returned towards the end of the school day with stones and waited next to the teacher’s car. When the teacher approached, the boy charged at him, but the teacher dodged, Taueatsoala said.
The pupil’s friend allegedly handed him a piece of a wooden table that he used to hit the teacher on the head with, leaving a gaping wound on his scalp.
The 17-year-old grade 7 pupil has been suspended pending a disciplinary hearing. Taueatsoala said the boy had been involved in previous cases of ill-discipline at the school.
The Northern Cape education department said it had recorded 294 assault cases at its schools between 2022 and this year, while the Western Cape recorded a case of murder and 83 cases of assault of teachers, mostly by pupils.
In the Northern Cape, about 71 cases involved sexual harassment, while 17 were corporal punishment ones. One case of sodomy was reported last year, and one of rape.
“These incidents are of learner-on-learner violence,” said Northern Cape education spokesperson Geoffrey van der Merwe.
“No incidents were reported of learner-on-teacher.”
Western Cape education spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said of the 83 cases of assault against teachers at schools last year, 73 involved learners. In 2022, 63 cases of assault were reported at Western Cape schools.
Hammond said that in September last year a grade 12 pupil stabbed a general assistant after an argument. “The assistant sadly died at the scene, and the learner was arrested.”
— Additional reporting by Sipokazi Fokazi and Rorisang Kgosana
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