BARBERTON – Dagga smuggling, the carrying of dangerous weapons and bullying are challenges that are still faced by teachers in township schools.
Mpumalanga News learnt
that the MEC for community safety, security and liaison,
Mr Vusi Shongwe is determined to make history in the province by making institutions a safe environment for learners through his school-safety programme.
The programme only caters schools that dominated media headlines for ill-discipline.
This has been proven after learners from Bhekiswako Secondary School in Pienaar came in numbers to receive first-hand experience on prison life through a visit to the Barberton Juvenile Centre.
Speaking during the gathering, Shongwe encouraged learners to focus on their studies so that they will not indulge in substance abuse and do bad things that will make them to end up in prison. “The visit is part and parcel of making schools safe places where teachers and learners can be free.
“We want our kids to get exposed to prison life so that they can be aware that crime doesn’t pay and no one is above the law. Once you are found on the wrong side of the law, you will face the music,” he said.
He believes that those learners who are a headache to their teachers by misbehaving, will change after they got the opportunity to interact with inmates who were comfortable to share their sad stories with the learners.
“I am sure that the learners have learnt something and they will go out there and share with their peers what they have experienced at the centre,” said Shongwe.
One of the inmates, Bongani Nkosi, originally from Ermelo, told the learners not to compare themselves with other people, they must be satisfied with what they have as he said:
“I started to do crime when I was doing grade eight because I was comparing myself to other people. I wanted to wear expensive clothes that my parents could not afford to buy for me then I started to be involved in robberies with my friend.
“Now I am in the dark place and the sad part of my story is that I am the only one who was arrested from the group.
My friends are out there achieving their goals in life and I am here in prison being hopeless.
I hope my story will be an eye-opener to the learners because I don’t want them to end up in jail just like me,” he concluded.
