1: The Violence We Carry

I was a teacher at one of these two schools mentioned.

“Don’t leave the school yet, Miss. It’s not safe out there.”

 

That warning came from a student, breathless and wide-eyed, as he burst into my classroom one afternoon, within 10 minutes after the last bell had rung for the day.
Outside, motorbikes roared. Men with clubs and chains circled the school gates. A teacher’s car was smashed as he was driving out of the gates.

He was traumatised.

They were hunting a student – retaliation for a beating he’d orchestrated with some of his bouncer friends days earlier against a student of a nearby institution

That was 25 years ago.


Today, another school faces the same violence in a fight with learners from my old school.

The principal was stabbed trying to defend her student.

Different faces. Same fear.

 

Schools Are Becoming Crime Scenes

Across South Africa, there are schools that are no longer sanctuaries of learning – they’re battlegrounds.
Recent incidents include:

  • A principal stabbed while protecting learners in Gauteng
  • Learners bringing loaded firearms to school in Gqeberha
  • A teacher assaulted with a brick in Manenberg (Western Cape)
  • A Grade 8 pupil stabbing a teacher in Randburg (Gauteng)

The violence is escalating. It’s not just pupil-on-pupil. It’s pupil-on-teacher. Youth-on-parent. Gender doesn’t shield anyone. Authority doesn’t protect.

And still, we’re asked:
“How can you talk about safeguarding children when this is what’s happening?”

We answer:
Because this is exactly why we must.

 

🧠 The Cycle Starts at Home

Violence doesn’t begin at the school gate. It begins:

  • In homes where parents are absent – physically, emotionally, relationally
  • In communities where trauma is inherited, not healed
  • In systems where children are exposed to violence before they learn to read

 

A recent study in KwaZulu-Natal found that youth exposed to violence suffer from anxiety, depression, and trauma-related disorders.
Another report revealed that 50 teachers were assaulted by learners in just five months

 

And yet, many educators hesitate to report these incidents – possibly fearing shame, retaliation, or career damage. Possibly because in their hearts they feel the pain of giving their best, their all, and it is not making a difference.

 

 The Cost of Silence

When violence becomes normalized:

  • Teachers burn out or leave the profession, leaving larger classrooms for the next academic year, for the next teacher.
  • Learners disengage, drop out, go into home schooling or online alternatives – or retaliate because they don’t have these other options.
  • Communities fracture under fear and mistrust.

The Department of Basic Education’s own survey shows that only 62% of secondary school teachers feel safe at work.
In provinces like the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, that number drops even lower.

 

 We Must Name the Roots if we are to reclaim the power over our schools

Let’s stop pretending this is just “bad behaviour.”
This is systemic.
This is intergenerational.
This is trauma.

Root causes include:

  • Absent parenting and lack of school – family collaboration; lack of parent support to schools.
  • Gang recruitment targeting younger and younger children, who are vulnerable for one reason or another.
  • Structural neglect – poverty, unemployment, broken homes
  • Social media glorification of violence

 

 Final Word: We Safeguard Because We Must

To those who ask how we can still push for safeguarding of children in the face of child violence, we say:

Because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t.
Because every child deserves a classroom that feels safer than the street.
Because silence is complicity. And we refuse to be complicit.

References

  • Department of Basic Education (DBE), South Africa
    • School Safety Framework and annual reports on violence in schools
    • DBE survey: Only 62% of secondary school teachers feel safe at work
  • South African Council for Educators (SACE)
    • Reports on teacher burnout and violence-related absenteeism
    • Endorsement of trauma-informed training programmes
  • Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention (CJCP)
    • Research on youth exposure to violence and its psychological impact
    • Studies linking school violence to community-level trauma
  • University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)
    • Studies on trauma-related disorders among learners in high-risk areas
    • Research on intergenerational violence and its effect on school behavior
  • News24 & IOL
    • Coverage of recent incidents:
    • Principal stabbed in Gauteng
    • Teacher assaulted in Manenberg
    • Firearms found in Gqeberha schools
    • Grade 8 pupil stabs teacher in Randburg
  • UNESCO & UNICEF Reports on Safe Learning Environments
  • Global frameworks for safeguarding and trauma-informed education
  • South Africa’s alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education)

https://www.facebook.com/roodepoortrecord/posts/this-comes-after-a-principal-was-stabbed-and-three-learners-were-hospitalised/1346229560837239/

 

Coming up next

Series: “Not Safe Out There – Breaking the Cycle of Violence in Our Schools”

Part 2: It Takes a Village

“Safeguarding doesn’t start with a policy. It starts with a parent who shows up.”