Alex police’s social crime prevention unit recently raided Pholosho Junior Secondary School in search of drugs and other illegal substances – but yielded nothing except pregnancy concerns.
The raid, said Constable Idah Murovhi of the unit, was part of police’s periodic activity to rid schools of any contraband harmful to children and teachers to ensure teaching and learning are conducted in a healthy and safe environment. “This has improved in most schools over the years,” Murovhi said.
While a sniffer dog went through schools bags and suspected hiding places in three classrooms, the pupils were frisked by officers.
Life orientation teacher, Florina Hlongwane, said the school was concerned about the sexual abuse of girls by some boys who touched them in the corridors, on the steps and behind classrooms during breaks.
“We are currently meeting with parents of 12 involved boys to inform them of this ill-discipline which the parents, boys and the public should know is sexual harassment which is a serious violation of the girls’ human rights and could lead to drastic and legal measures.” Hlongwane said they also had a problem with teenage pregnancies after three 15-year-old pupils in Grade 7, 8 and 9 fell pregnant, had babies last year and are still in school. She said with children becoming sexually active from primary school level, increased parental involvement was required to instil discipline in both girls and boys.
Bullying and gambling using dice, marbles and coin spinning were other problems she identified.
Alex Police Station spokesperson, Warrant Officer Manare Ramotshela, said the raids, as routine checks, needed to combine with community engagement so that parents did not renege on their disciplining of children. This before they formed bad habits from wrong role models, criminals and drug peddlers. Ramotshela also urged parents to improve communication with the schools and to ask for their children’s school reports as part of monitoring their conduct and performance in class.
