Chaos reigns at General Smuts High
“We implore parents to assist the department in instilling learner discipline in and outside the school environment.”
VEREENIGING.- A number of once highly acclaimed and admired institutions in this country have degraded to the point where they have made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
One such, in the Vaal, is the General Smuts High School in Vereeniging.
A few months after the school made headlines earlier this year about bullying and gangsterism, the school is once again in the news for the same claims of bullying, gangsterism, and ill-discipline. In addition to these, claims of drug sales and late coming have arisen. Community members of Vereeniging told Sedibeng Ster that many pupils are always late to school and that they find the gates locked, leading them to wander the streets and using drugs.
It is said that last Thursday, while welcoming Spring Season, pupils poured buckets of water on a teacher. It is also reported that the most popularly sold and used drugs in the school are dagga and Xanax, a prescription anxiety medication, popularly known as ‘Zen’ by pupils.
“General Smuts is not that school that was known for its discipline, cleanliness, and dedication by its students anymore.
“Things that happen here are out of this world. The department needs to do something because soon we as residents will have to take control of the situation. The school was not like this in the years that we have been living here. Something needs to be done,” said a community leader.
Teachers are said to be leaving the school, requesting transfers and seeking ‘greener pastures’ elsewhere. Even some of the pupils at the school have reported to the parents and community leaders about the degrading situation of the school as can be seen in a Whatsapp message to one of the community leaders which said:
“I want you guys to realise one thing… We guys in general smuts.. Good teachers are leaving, and we will be left with a war to contemplate on our own.”
Responding to queries about the situation at the school, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) said that it is aware of the allegations raised and a Disciplinary Committee (DC) was established to specifically deal with this issue at the school adding that some parents of learners at the school have, over the past few weeks, taken it upon themselves to support the school in addressing late coming. The GDE said that their (the parents’) intervention also resulted in the retrieval of numerous cough mixture bottles and drugs. It further said that parents of the alleged ‘gangster’ learners were invited to a meeting, however, not all of them availed themselves.
“As part of our interventions, we advised the school to immediately minimize the movement of learners during school hours. This system started on Monday, 5 September. We implore parents to assist the department in instilling learner discipline in and outside the school environment.”
The GDE’s Steve Mabona said that the department always encourages learners to refrain from acts of misconduct in schools.
A meeting between the Ward Councillor and the School Management Team (SMT) was held on Monday, with the aim of getting the entire community to help address the challenges facing the school. The meeting’s discussions and/or conclusions had not yet been made public at the time Sedibeng Ster went to print.
