The Eastern Cape Department of Education has reported a worrying trend over the past five months – 131 schools, mainly in the Nelson Mandela Bay area, have been the victims of robberies, many of them involving firearms.
According to the department, reports from the district indicate that the perpetrators of these crimes are often young people from the province.
Department’s spokesperson, Malibongwe Mtima states that they have joined forces with law enforcement agencies and local communities to address the issue of crime in schools.
“These are young people that are doing these things so we are trying to turn it around, take those young people, and appoint them as security officers in our schools to guard our schools. Number two we are going to have admin, people that are going to be also dealing with this to ensure that when these things are happening, nobody will be left in the cold…”
“And we are not only going to appoint security, we are also going to ensure that each and every school has surveillance cameras so that at the end of the day, people that are at school can study or can learn safely,” explains Mtima.
