Port Elizabeth schools which have been identified for the provincial school safety programme want security guards and caretakers posted outside the school gates.
The R6,7-million plan, which is a partnership between the education and safety liaison departments, and the Jag Sports and Education Foundation, identified 40 schools in the Eastern Cape for the pilot programme to curb violence.
It aims to minimize the prevalence of vandalism, assaults on teachers and pupils, and the abuse of drugs and violence at the schools.
It also intends to cement partnerships between the police, correctional services and communities to bring down the scourge of criminal activities which spilled on to the school premises.
Mzontsundu High, Helenvale Primary and David Livingstone High are among seven schools in Port Elizabeth that have been identified.
David Livingstone principal Dr Desmond Grove said the school needed to have a security guard and caretaker because. He said the school had been adversely affected by gangsterism.
Mzontsundu teacher Zakhele Pupuma said the school was no longer safe for teachers or pupils.
“we want the department to erect fencing for the school and employ at least one guard and caretaker on the premises to minimize the vandalism and criminal incidents.”
He said General Motors had donated computers for the pupils earlier this year, but they could not yet be used because the school was not safe.
“People come I and out of the school and it is not safe for the pupils and teachers.”
Source: Herald, October 29 2007
Author: Dineo Matomela
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