Teachers’ unions have welcomed the Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED) interventions to increase the safety of schools and pupils.
This after Education MEC David Maynier said R76.1 million was set aside this year to secure schools and promote pupil safety.
Maynier said the WCED would construct secure fencing at 30 schools every year for five years, as part of the Western Cape safety plan.
“We are also expanding the number of School Resource Officers in our schools, which are law-enforcement officers stationed at our schools to tackle crime and safety matters.
“This year, we will fund an additional 18 School Resource Officers, bringing the total number of officers deployed in our schools to 46.
“And next year, we will add another 18. And the year after that, another 18, for a total of 82 officers in our schools,” he said.
Maynier said the officers would be stationed at schools in Khayelitsha, Wesbank, Delft, Hanover Park and Philippi where the need was “greatest”.
He said the department could not overcome the safety challenges in schools alone, adding that the WCED worked with law enforcement, NGOs and other departments.
The SA Democratic Teachers Union provincial deputy secretary Sibongile Kwazi said the union appreciated the commitment to look at the challenge of unsafe schools.
“Although we welcome these measures, more resources should be deployed, as well as providing some long-term solutions. No school should be left unfenced. The reality is that crime is not only found in the metro, and we need every school to be included. We have a lot of incidents where schools get burglaries, and teachers and learners fall victim to crimes,” she said.
The National Professional Teachers Organisation of SA (Naptosa) provincial spokesperson David Millar said: “Naptosa believes that children should be safe when accessing any school environment, and existing security measures like access control, proper fencing, and video surveillance can play a key role in accomplishing that goal for many schools.
Fences, as an example, do not stop schools from being unsafe spaces, but they certainly help to keep out undesirable elements (especially in gang-infested communities), and promote greater access control at schools.
“School safety needs a whole-of-society approach. It must be done in collaboration with parents, community organisations, faith-based organisations, community policing forums, and the local SAPS,” he said.
Millar said the safety of children and teachers, as well as non-teachers, must remain a priority.
Cape Times