Picture: John Frylinck Secondary School in Huhudi Township, Vryburg logo/Google
By OBAKENG MAJE
North West MEC for Education, Viola Motsumi is set to visit the John Frylinck Secondary School in Huhudi Township, in Vryburg today at 10am. This comes after the school was plagued by gangsterism since the beginning of the year.
Motsumi, who previously visited the school in April 2023 after major disruptions said, she adopted the school after it experienced serious incidents of gangsterism amongst learners.
“Learners attended school carrying dangerous weapons. You will remember, I left all my engagements and visited the school in order to bring back sanity to the school community. I was accompanied by the North West Community Safety and Transport Management Department.
“I have been extremely concerned about the behaviour of learners of this school. Some learners threatened the safety of other learners, which is a serious violation of the Constitution. Every learner has a right to education in this country and nobody must take away that right,” she said.
Motsumi further said, she is going to conduct a close monitoring of the behaviour of the learners of the school.
According to the www.health-e.org.za website, gangsterism among children – who are often left alone by their parents – has been pinpointed as the main driving force behind violence in schools. A Social Work Manager at the National Department of Social Development, Linda Makhathini told the website that, children who come from child-headed families or whose parents are unemployed, are often involved in gangs.
“As the DSD, we must address the social ills in our society. Our department has set up an anti-gang strategy after all nine provinces reported that children are displaying signs that they are part of gangs. The department must deal with this plight of gangsterism.
“From a survey conducted in child and youth care centres, it was revealed that children of unemployed parents are the ones involved in gangs. These children are often left unsupervised during the day. We all understand that some parents have to work but these are some of the issues coming up,” she said.
Makhathini further stated that peer pressure and the lack of a parental figure can lead to children joining gangs. She added that, some also think that once they are part of a gang, there is no way out.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that each year up to 1 billion children experience some form of physical, sexual, or psychological violence or neglect. Besides lifelong impacts on education, health, and well-being, children exposed to violence can experience underachievement due to cognitive, emotional, and social problems,” said Makhathini.
The Guardian 