Gangsterism has infiltrated the AB Phokompe Secondary School and Lukhanyo High School in Mohlakeng, in the west of Johannesburg.
Fights erupted on Wednesday last week when pupils from AB Phokompe marched to Lukhanyo after school hours for an alleged planned attack believed to be gang-related.
Steve Mabona, spokesperson for Gauteng department of education, said the department has scheduled a stakeholder meeting for Wednesday after it was made aware of the incident.
Mabona also confirmed that two grade 11 learners from the respective schools were injured during the fight and were later taken to healthcare facilities. However, he said the ongoing gang-related attacks have not disrupted teaching and learning.
“All the identified learners will be taken through the necessary disciplinary processes. Our psychosocial support team has been dispatched to both schools to offer support accordingly,” Mabona said.
“As the department, we strongly condemn any acts of misconduct which seek to undermine the dignity of our learning institutions. We continue to appeal to parents to instill discipline on their children in and outside the school environment.”
In a statement, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) said the gang-related incidents show that schools are no longer safe havens they are supposed to be.
“Sadtu is calling for the creation of safe spaces for learners to confide in them about the issues they face. We again reiterate our call for psychosocial services in schools,” said Sadtu.
“Our schools do not have enough infrastructure to ensure that learners, teachers and communities do not bring weapons to schools. We call for properly trained security personnel to oversee security in schools.”
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