Johannesburg – Bullying at schools has reared to the surface again in the last few weeks with several incidents reported across the country.
To address the situation, The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) launched the “I Am a School Fan” campaign at Lakeview Primary School in Soweto last week.
The union said the campaign aims to mobilise all stakeholders including parents, teachers, learners, and government departments to address school-related violence in all its forms.
They partnered with Old Mutual, Brand South Africa and UNICEF.
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Mugwena Maluleke, General Secretary of SADTU explained, “There are many extensions to this campaign. Ultimately, it focuses on bettering behaviours and attitudes in students and teachers. We want to work on what we understand South Africa’s psyche to be. South Africans are sports fanatics and sport has often been a great unifier. We want to harness this and use it as a message that supports education with the same passion that one would support their favourite team,” said Maluleke.
He said further that they are embarking on a social media campaign to reach education workers, which will offer support and recourse for everyone, not just SADTU members”.
Xolani Fakude, Head Of Secretariate at SADTU said at their National Congress at Nasrec in 2019, delegates representing about 266 000 members identified violence in schools as one of the most significant obstacles in achieving objectives.
“Bullying comes from learners to learners, learners to teachers and even teachers to teachers and cyber-bullying, with the case of Lufuno in Limpopo, who took her own life . Younger and newer teachers are often victims of bullying which causes stress and anxiety and can lead to increased absenteeism by affected teachers and learners. The recent demise of a learner in Alexandra at the hands of another is but one example,” said Fakude.
Fakude explained that two years ago, a Northern Cape teacher was fatally wounded by a learner at his home after work hours because the learner accused him of deliberately “failing” him.
He also expressed his dismay at vandalism used as a bargaining tool for service delivery – which he said is also a form of bullying.
“During Covid lockdown in 2020, we saw a number of schools being vandalised by people who reside in the same communities. During the looting period a significant number of schools were vandalised. A well-known case is that of Vuwani in Limpopo where schools were closed by the community for extended periods. This is demoralising to us as education professionals, they render our work environmentally unsafe for both teaching and learning. We believe that these conditions make it difficult for the sector to attract new professionals at the required rate and that they contribute to the high drop-out rate that we are experience year in and year out as a country,” he said.
“When you are a fan of a school, you will make sure nothing untoward happens to that school,” he said.
Fakude alo reiterated that it wasn’t just about talk and no action.
“We are calling on the DBE and the South African government to equally take responsibility and ensure that there is a sufficient budget for school infrastructure, the required support personnel to ensure that security measures are applied consistently and to ensure that the National School Safety Framework is implemented to its fullest.”
He said also that bullying in itself remains severely under-reported due to the perceived humiliation by the victims.
“However, in instances where it is reported, schools through the School Governing Bodies must follow certain protocols that include, interacting with the parents/legal guardians. In some cases, learners can get suspended or even recommended to another institution. This is a prerogative of the relevant SGB in line with developed school policies and the Department of Basic Education. The Union also removes from its membership records of members found guilty of one or the other offence at the end of a legitimate disciplinary process, this is also how we demonstrate as a union that we are serious about protecting the integrity of our profession,” said Fakude.
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