A Grade 10 pupil at East Bank High School is nursing stab wounds inflicted on him by a mate on the morning of 21 October in the school premises.
The incident, confirmed by school principal Isaac Tloloe, occurred at a time of unease nationwide from incidents of violence in schools resulting in some
deaths.
Alex Police Station spokesperson Captain Stephen Malatji said the incident which is under investigation involved the 18-year-old victim who was trying to broker peace between two others who were feuding over money.
“The perpetrator is said to have demanded some money from another pupil when the victim intervened to his demise when he was stabbed three times on the neck, hand and back,” Malatji said adding that he was waiting for an update in the investigation to inform if any arrest was made.
The victim is said to have been taken by ambulance to a hospital for treatment.
He expressed worry that children may seemingly be circumventing crime prevention measures like unannounced searches at school by hiding weapons
only to spring them up at convenient times. “The weapons are mostly brought from home where there has to be a rethink about the role and involvement of
parents in the safety of their children, teachers and visitors to schools.
“Searches should start at home where household items like forks and knives that are bought for good causes are carried away from home for wrong reasons by the children.”
Parents, he said, should find it their responsibility to search their children’s bags and clothes as the weapons are ultimately returned for safe keeping at home before being reused again at school without the parents’ knowledge. He said the schools and the police searches can’t detect all possible spots where the weapons are hidden.
Also, Malatji said, the police couldn’t raid homes of children alleged to possess dangerous weapons without concrete evidence of their involvement in crime. He worried that the problems will persist without effective mitigation strategies.
“Schools have become battlegrounds prompted mostly by gangs who even terrorise teachers.”
This said in reference to the fear they instil, weapons they carry and violence they instigate which forces potential victims to also arm themselves in self-defence.
He urged for the strategies to draw in the children through neutral settings where their conscience is appealed to, they are allowed to talk freely and contribute to finding solutions.
“A paradigm shift is needed in their conscience and values to make them understand that they are the masters of their destinies only through education. “A relaxed atmosphere where they feel considered will enable them to talk freely on causal factors of violence in order to arrive at solutions that are holistic.”
He decried the children’s predisposition to crime saying could be detected through violence that is also experienced in primary schools.
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