SCHOOL CRIME RISE CONCERN

Rampant drug abuse among pupils and parents' abdication of their roles and
responsibilities have been cited as the main reasons behind the recent
spate of criminal incidents plaguing schools in the province.

Within a space of one month three pupils have been shot dead in
Pietermaritzburg and Eshowe, and two others have been stabbed in unrelated
incidents in Newlands East and Chatsworth.

In response to ongoing criminal incidents at schools, provincial safety and
security minister Nyanga Ngubane is convening a meeting of stakeholders
next week to address the school violence problem.

"The recent incidents of violence have brought shame on all of us and as
parents and leaders in government it is imperative that immediate deterrent
action is taken before more lives are lost," said Ngubane.

He had already met the provincial director of the Independent Complaints
Directorate, advocate Shireen Lakhi, to discuss school violence and both
had felt an all-inclusive, multi-departmental structure was best suited to
handle the problem.

Hope

The meeting would also include the senior management of the police
services, education department officials, representatives of school
governing bodies, welfare department and correctional services officials.

Ngubane said the easy availability of drugs among pupils needed to be
addressed.

Supporting Ngubane, Durban-based counselling psychologist Poobalan Naidoo
said many parents had abdicated their responsibilities for supervision of
their children.

"Domestic violence is on the increase because of socio-economic reasons
such as unemployment."

He said violent behaviour was being observed at home by children and,
coupled with exposure to violent movies shown by the electronic media,
these were having a negative influence on them.

"What we see in television these days is contributing a lot to the conduct
we see among learners because parents can't control or manage or have lost
control of their kids. There is minimal supervision," said Naidoo. "What we
are seeing is the beginning of the type of school violence that we have
been seeing in most American schools."