The Western Cape Education Department's (WCED) Safe Schools Programme is definitely having a positive impact on schools, said MEC Cameron Dugmore today during a debate on the safety of children. At the same time he cautioned against complacency. The national government launched National Childrens Rights Month yesterday.

In a statement leading the debate in the Provincial Legislature today, MEC Dugmore said sometimes an impression is created that government only responds to crises. However - "this is far from the truth. In fact, we have an integrated Prevention, Crime Control, Intervention and Response Strategy."

In outlining the extent of challenges faced by government, he illustrated the following statistics: In 2003 the WCED's Safe Schools Call Centre recorded 1,561 incidents ranging from abuse, burglary, vandalism, crime and gang violence.

In the year 2004 it has risen slightly to 1,958. In 2005 2,778 incidents were recorded, and for 2006, up to 31 March this year, 1,038 incidents were recorded. About two-thirds of all incidents recorded were from metropolitan schools, MEC Dugmore said.

"These statistics were recorded by our Safe Schools Call Centre. All schools have to report school crime. Data is captured and used in an integrated approach to combat crime and violence. This provides an effective Victim Empowerment programme to support and manage victims of crime and violence."

MEC Dugmore’s statement reads as follows:

Honourable Members; thank you once again for affording me the opportunity to lead this House on the issue of schools safety. As I said about two weeks ago when I a made a Statement on this matter, I believe our Safe Schools Programme is definitely having a positive impact on our schools. But I will also be the first to warn against complacency.

In this regard, to outline the extent of the challenges we all face, I want to illustrate the following: In 2003 our Safe Schools Call Centre recorded 1,561 incidents ranging from abuse, burglary, vandalism, crime and gang violence.

In the year 2004 it has risen slightly to 1,958. In 2005 2,778 incidents were recorded, and for 2006, up to 31 March this year, already we have recorded 1,038 incidents. About two-thirds of all incidents recorded were from metropolitan schools.

These statistics were recorded by our Safe Schools Call Centre. All schools have to report school crime. Data is captured and used in an integrated approach to combat crime and violence. This provides an effective Victim Empowerment programme to support and manage victims of crime and violence.

Sometimes, because of the way the media use their headlines, an impression is created that government only responds to crises. This is far from the truth. In fact, we have an integrated Prevention, Crime Control, Intervention and Response Strategy.

The WCED has developed safety structures for schools to support and encourage safety at school level. This starts with encouraging a team spirit within the school and surrounding community and a willingness to engage in a continued process of critical assessment and change. The School Safety Committee (SSC) consists of a wide range of service providers and maintains a positive attitude towards critical analysis.

The School Safety Committee is responsible for ensuring that safety is part of the school’s vision, conducting safety audits, compiling and revising safety plans, advising with regard to selection and implementation strategies, conducting an audit of service providers relating to safety and security at the school.

Our Safe Schools Programme has provided 100 schools with security infrastructure, ranging from remote control gates with CCTV cameras, intercom systems in order to do evacuation and safety drills, safety gates, burglar bars, maintenance on broken fences, and barbed wire, depending on the need as identified by the safety committee and verified through a risk analysis by the Safe Schools Co-ordinators.

The 100 schools identified have been secured appropriately and access control has been improved. These schools were identified based on the criteria as stipulated in the procedural manual.

Twenty-eight schools received an alarm system linked to an armed response unit that has a car in the vicinity of the school and is able to respond to the schools need in less than seven minutes. Armed Response subsidies were paid to all schools that installed an alarm system.

In addition to infrastructure, WCED in partnership with Community Safety identified 400 high-risk schools that needed additional human resources to control crime.

Of these, six Bambanani Volunteers were deployed to 100 schools identified as extremely high-risk, at a cost of R6-million. At least one of the Bambanani Volunteers is a parent and member of the SGB. Furthermore schools seek parent watch to assist with the monitoring in and around toilets on school premises.

We have also, with Community Safety helped pioneered the appointment of Learner Support Officers (LSOs) based at schools and EMDCs. The LSOs contribute significantly to building safer environments, by reducing truancy, dropouts and bunking and promoting crime prevention.

Perhaps what is not reported on and what is not common knowledge, is the fairly successful outcomes of our crime prevention and attitudinal or behaviour modification programmes, through learner seminars, corrective, assertive discipline and positive discipline, conflict resolution and mediation training, and establishment of peer mediators on school premises.

Honourable Members, this is part of a long list of ongoing programmes and projects, in conjunction with numerous partners, tackling many issues, including substance abuse, sexual abuse and cultural diversity.

As I indicated in my Budget Speech earlier, our partnership with the Department of Community Safety is an excellent example of how we work together. Similarly, we shall continue to work closely with all other partners in a wide variety of sectors, including community organisations.

One such organization, which I particularly want to highlight, is the Proudly Manenberg Campaign. It has been started by former learners, educators and activists in the community with a view to responding to the social and economic crisis that persists in the community.

The campaign had its genesis at the Manenberg High School, where one of its learners, Cheslyn Jones was fatally stabbed by gang members outside the school.

The killing of the learner is symptomatic of the general malaise within the community that is affected by high rates of unemployment, high levels of violence, gangsterism and the low morale of educators due to stressful working conditions.

The social ills in the community had a direct impact on the schools. A few years ago gangs used schools as scenes for their operations, fought over the schools as parts of their "territory", and in fact recruited members – with a number of juvenile or feeder gangs operating in the township. Schools were becoming havens for drugs, movement and storage of guns and were effectively terrorized.

The last few years have seen the schools and the broader community fighting back. The progress has been seen in:

• Schools and the broader community engaging with gangs constructively to limit their activities and behaviour;
• An effective method of reporting and reacting to concerns about gang members who try and recruit learners;
• Effective banning of drugs (including cigarettes) in schools in Manenberg, with a strong reactive process involving police and the Safe Schools Call Centre if learners are found with drugs.

However, members of the community and residents continue to struggle to rid themselves of the stigma that is associated with Manenberg in the outside world. Many complain that employers reject their job applications, especially young people.

In view of this the Proudly Manenberg Campaign aims to restore the family values and morals of the community; create better economic, social and education opportunities; return our schools to the learners, teachers and parents; make the schools conducive for learning and stabilise the immediate community against crime and gangsterism

I believe a school is part of the community, and that there is a reciprocal relationship between safe schools and safe communities. A community that feels ownership and pride for its school, does not vandalise it and does not allow others to do so.

Schools must reach out and serve the community, it must open its doors to everyone and enable the whole community to become a learning community. Learners, teachers and administrative staff are not only school agents; they are also community agents, agents of social change and development.

I believe our Community School Week later this year will be the first contribution sponsored by WCED, to realizing the objective of integrating our schools within communities. I want to emphazise sponsored by WCED, because I believe there are already some shining examples of schools owned and used by their communities.

This initiative is intended to restore both hope and dignity to communities. We have set aside some budget for it and hope that other ministries will likewise be able to support it.

Mr Speaker, not only is school safety one of my six critical priorities for the rest of my term of office, but it is also the number one priority for the Social Cluster Cabinet Committee. This is an indication of the seriousness with which this provincial government is viewing the safety of our children.

I have already indicated that I am committed to reviewing our Safe Schools Programme with a view to strengthen it. Last year the WCED hosted a safety indaba with all relevant roleplayers, to discuss an impact assessment programme.

The aim of this assessment is to acquire information from schools with regard to the schools’ status on safety and to assess whether the policy manual is being implemented.

The impact assessment tool was developed by Safe Schools and circulated to circuit managers, directors of EMDC’s as well as the employee parties, SADTU, NAPTOSA and SAOU for input.

The impact assessment tool proved to be a valuable tool for schools to assist them with developing safe learning institutions and at the same time assisted the Safe Schools co-ordinator to assess the gaps in safety and security at the schools. The Safe Schools co-ordinators are able to determine additional training needs of the safety committees.

The Safe Schools co-ordinators conducted the impact assessment in the EMDCs at 20 selected schools consisting of five Extremely High Risk Schools, five High Risk Schools, five Medium Risk Schools and five Low Risk Schools.

The impact assessment thus focused on 10% of public ordinary schools in the Western Cape. The impact assessment tool will also be circulated to all other public ordinary schools. These processes will form part of a broader review, and will also be subject to our WCED redesign exercise.

I thank you...

For enquiries, contact Gert Witbooi:  082 550 3938, or gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za.