2.4 CAUSES OF CRIME IN SCHOOL 30
2.4.1 Conditions in the schools 31
The South African Schools Act, Act No 84 of 1996 (RSA 1996:31) states that the school governing body of a public school must adopt a code of conduct with the aim to establish a discipline and purposeful environment to facilitate an effective culture of teaching and learning in the school. The code of conduct must promote the civic responsibilities of the school and it must develop leadership with the code of conduct‟s main focus on positive discipline. Therefore, it must not be punitive and punishment orientated but one that facilitates constructive learning (Sookha, 2006a:41).
According to Potgieter, Visser, Van der Bank, Mothata and Squelch (1997:59) educators teach and learners learn best in an orderly and safe environment. Discipline is therefore one of the most important management functions in a school. Principals and educators have a duty to maintain proper order and discipline. To achieve good discipline, every school must have a written code of conduct. The purpose of a code of conduct as suggested by Potgieter et al (1997:59-60) is to:
Create a well-organised and good school so that effective teaching and learning can take place.
Promote self-discipline.
Encourage good behaviour.
Regulate conduct.
Nevertheless, Bezuidenhout and Joubert (2003:62) point out that the lack of discipline in schools is a common problem that has not changed since the arrival of the new
democracy in South Africa. Crime and violence appear to be worsening in schools, aggravating the existing lack of discipline and impacting extremely negatively on learners.
Kruger and Van Schalkwyk (1993:107) stress that an environment with little or no order can lead to the collapse of the teaching and learning culture.
Unstable discipline in schools negatively influences the learning environment and results in huge financial losses. In this regard Kuppan (2006:5) reports that vandals in uMlazi broke into a school, destroyed furniture, doors and windows and caused R15 000 in damage in just one night.
According to Bezuidenhout and Joubert (2003:62) both the Department of Education and the parents suffer financially as schools tend to use their minor unscheduled funds to repair damages caused by acts of vandalism. Govender (2006:2) states that there is a large number of cases of armed robbery and many cases of theft of solar panels, cellphones, cars, computers, school fees and food provided for the school feeding scheme for primary schools. While these figures reflect the situation in KwaZulu-Natal, there were 498 assaults on learners in Mpumalanga, Western Cape and Northern Cape, including 187 sexual assaults in 2005. There were 1314 cases of vandalism causing damage of R6million in just one district in the North West in 2005. (Govender, 2006:2).
Bezuidenhout and Joubert (2003:62-63) maintain that vandalism can also be a symptom of an underlying problem such as poverty, where learners steal classroom doors or aluminium from the blackboard to sell in order to buy some food. Seven in ten young people are out of work and they often turn to crime and selling sex to make ends meet (Da Costa, 2007:21). According to Andrew and Sanpath (2007:5) hundreds of learners were forced to return home in the first term of 2007 after ten schools were robbed of their copper water pipes in Chatsworth.
Naidu (2006a:4) suggests that robbers are taking a new route when robbing their victims of valuables. After the school premises had been securely locked on a Friday in Phoenix, for instance, the computer classroom was noticed to have been broken into and computers stolen. The following day a parent was leaving the premises of Eastbury school in the Phoenix area and was in close proximity of the school gates when an unknown male held him at knife point and robbed him of his cellphone worth approximately R800. Teacher union members have reacted with concern after armed robberies at two primary schools in Inanda in a week‟s time. In both incidents four armed men entered the school premises and demanded valuables from teachers in the following manner as described by (Sookha, 2006b:2):
In the first incident, the men managed to gain entry into Esikhululiwe Primary School and escaped with two cellphones.
In a second incident a school clerk was gunned down on the school premises when the four men entered Mandlakayise Primary School. They also demanded cellphones from the teachers at the school.
Crime is out of control in and around most schools. Muggings, stabbings, armed robbery and petty pilfering are a daily occurrence (Naidu, 2006a:2). In many institutions learners and educators cannot be sure if they will reach the schools safely. Once there, it is entirely possible that they will be robbed by unscrupulous criminals who wander through the often unguarded gates to terrorize the learners. And even if they survive the day on the school premises, learners are worried they may not reach their transport without the trauma of being mugged or stabbed (Naidu, 2006b:14).
According to Engelbrecht, Green, Naicker and Engelbrecht (1999:50-51) both learners and teachers are potential victims of crime. Cases of teachers being shot and murdered or robbed on the school premises are reported regularly. Mhlongo (2007:1) agrees with this and says “Another KwaZulu-Natal teacher has been murdered in front of his primary school pupils, less than 24 hours after a Dassenhoek teacher was stabbed by a pupil in her class”. The launching of the “safe schools” programme in schools in South Africa, which involves keeping crime off the school premises, is an indication of the problem of violence many schools experience. To worsen the situation, perpetrators are often part of the school community itself (Bezuidenhout & Joubert, 2003:63).