SOWETAN | Break circle of violence in schools

The attack on an 11-year-old boy in Soshanguve by fellow pupils who allegedly circumcised him in a school toilet is both tragic and disturbing.

The deeply disturbing incident, which took place at Sinqobile Primary School, where a grade 5 pupil suffered trauma at the hands of fellow grade 7 pupils, is being investigated by police.

The attack on the boy raises fundamental questions about whether our schools remain sacred and safe spaces for children to learn and develop or places where their safety cannot be guaranteed.

The mother of the boy said she had learnt with shock what had happened to her son when one morning she witnessed him struggling to get up for school. Such was the severity of the injury inflicted on him that he had to be rushed to a doctor.

According to the boy’s mother, four older pupils were involved in the brutal attack, which resulted in her son being pinned down by three of them while another performed the unlawful circumcision.

That the incident happened with the use of a sharp object, presumably a knife, in the school toilets raises troubling concerns about the accessibility of dangerous weapons in SA’s schools .

It also highlights security gaps and a lack of monitoring of pupils, which appears to have been exploited by the older pupils.

These institutional failures call for proactive interventions to safeguard every child in our schools and also require collaborative efforts from parents, teachers, and the education department.

Over the years, we have witnessed increasing levels of violence in our schools, which have resulted in the loss of pupils’ lives in some cases. This is not just a problem for a few schools but a societal failure that we all ought to be concerned about and seek to address.

The government’s response to these problems is often reactionary, with the deployment of law enforcement at the so-called troublesome schools.

But until the root cause of the violence is addressed, we may continue to treat the symptoms rather than the problem itself.

The pupils who were involved in this brutal attack on their fellow pupil must be held to account for their actions.

We must also teach children about the consequences of their actions, the need to constantly watch their behaviour, especially at home and at school, and the importance of good manners.

Parents, guardians, teachers and the government have a moral obligation to protect children from harm and break this circle of violence in our schools.