To address some of the disciplinary challenges faced at primary and high schools in the Kensington and Factreton areas, a meeting was held with principals and officers from the Kensington Police Station on Thursday 11 May.
Lt Col Delmore Manuel, newly appointed Kensington police commander, says the aim is to engage with principals to find solutions.
Principals indicated that fighting at the schools and after tuition was a major concern. Learners being able to buy cigarettes and drugs and bringing these items inside school premises was also flagged. “We have heard that pupils are using and abusing drugs at school, before school and after school. Principals raised concern that some of their learners might be involved in selling drugs at the school.”
- Police to have regular engagement sessions with learners addressing safety and crime issues.
- More police visibility in and around schools.
- Random searches be conducted at school to confiscate knives and drugs.
Jamiel Alexander, Principal at Hidayatul Islam Primary School, believes the meeting was a step in the right direction.
“I am glad the colonel mentioned that they will become more involved because that is what we need. For me, visibility around the school is needed. The minute people see that police vehicle patrolling they will step back. Police need to come into the schools and do regular lectures on safety and criminal issues just as a warning to our children.”
Dawood Esack, chair of the school governing body (SGB) at Hidayatul, says there is a need for these kinds of engagement.
“This is very encouraging, the fact that the new colonel has reached out to the community to address the issues at the schools. You feel that somebody is reaching out, wanting to do something with regard to things that are happening at schools.”
Esack says enforcing discipline at school is important.
“At our school, we believe all matters should be nipped in the bud. Even if we feel it is a minor issue, we will suspend (learners) because it sends out a message to other learners as well. If we don’t act and allow one learner to get away with something, the next child will see it as an opportunity to also do it.”
Jameelah Liedeman, chair of the Kensington Community Policing Forum (CPF) and coordinator of the victim empowerment programme at the station, says in many cases behavioural issues among learners were due to trauma they experience.
“One of the biggest problems that we have is behavioural issues. Rape and sexual molestation are increasing in our area. We find that a lot of the behavioural issues among girls are because of sexual molestation that happened when they were younger, and now the memories are resurfacing and they don’t know how to handle it.
“We find that with boys, it is anger issues, mostly not having a father figure in their lives and seeing other people as role models.”
Liedeman says change is possible if everyone gets involved.
“We needed this round table a long time ago. We are trying to get as many organisations as possible in the area to work together because that is the only way we will win this fight.”
Manuel says another meeting will be organised where more stakeholders like the Department of Social Development, officials from the Safer Schools Programme, traffic services and law enforcement partners would be requested to attend.
