The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

From South Africa

(pretorianews.co.za) ‘Until we begin to roll back the flood of violence in communities, there is very little schools can do to prevent violent behaviour among pupils coming through the school gates.”

These are the words of the dean of education at the University of Pretoria, Professor Jonathan Jansen.

A spate of violent incidents at school has lead to a public outcry and given rise to the perception that children were becoming increasingly violent.

Many organisations and experts say the criminal activities children are exposed to in their communities are to blame for this.

But the question remains: what can be done to curb this trend of violence in South African schools?

Jansen said it was high time for the public to be realistic about what schools could and could not achieve.

Jansen said: “Students observe, and might even participate, in violence in their communities.

“The abuse of women, broken families, the brutality of criminals, the availability of dangerous weapons – these are things that many of our children are exposed to on a daily basis,” he said. (more…)