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Media Release

27 August, 2008

Safety management at schools

The WCED prepared the following comment for KFM/ape Talk radio stations at their request on 27 August 2008.

Our Safe Schools Division works closely with schools to ensure school security and safer school environments.

The division's work falls into three basic areas, namely:

  • Physical security
  • The social environment, and thirdly
  • Planning, strategy and policy development

Every school must have a safety committee and a safety plan that meets the needs of the particular school.

Physical security is important, but we have found that the safest schools are those where community assists the school in ensuring safety.

For this reason, Safe Schools works with our schools to mobilise community support and to organise programmes designed to influence learner behavior.

We appeal to our communities to support their school as much as possible to ensure school security and safety.

This can include assisting with patrols, reporting suspicious movements and generally promoting a positive attitude in communities for schools.

Ensuring safe schools is an expensive business. Our Safe Schools budget this year is R14.9-million. Our budget for emergency repairs this year, normally because of vandalism, is R7-million. This does not include emergency repairs paid for by schools.

In the end, we will not solve the problem of vandalism by continuously paying for repairs. The answer ultimately lies in communities taking responsibility for their schools.



Issued by:
Paddy Attwell
Director: Communication
Western Cape Education Department
Tel: 021 467 2531
Fax: 021 461 3694
Email: pattwell@pgwc.gov.za

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