Steps to curb violence at schools

The education department says teachers may search anyone on school property without a warrant. Business Day reports that after a meeting with the heads of nine provincial departments, Duncan Hindle, the education department’s director-general, said department heads had recommended regulations declaring schools as zones free of drugs, alcohol and dangerous objects. Hindle added that despite the department’s measures to make schools safe, communities needed to co-operate to make safe learning environments possible. The meeting followed a month of violence in schools that resulted in the deaths of at least two pupils and many injuries through knife and gun-related violence.

Meanwhile, it is reported that a policeman's teenaged son claims he took a loaded gun to school to protect himself from bullies. A loaded 9mm gun was found in the school bag of the 15-year-old grade 10 pupil from a high school in Barberton in Mpumalanga. Reports states that the boy allegedly told police that the bullies from another school used the same bus. Police asked him to point out the boys at the other school and warned them to stop bullying him. The boy has appeared in court on charges of the illegal possession of a firearm. The case was postponed to the 29th of June.