Shining spotlight on school violence

Schools were some of the key arenas at which the fight against apartheid took place.

Fast forward to modern-day South Africa, the culture of violence in our schools still lingers.

But this time – it’s not directed on any system but children are killing each other.

Educators sometimes also find themselves victims to learners’ rage.

The latest crime statistics show that the number of child killers has risen from 47 to 736 over the past four years.

A 2012 study by the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention indicates that at least 22.2% of high school learners had experienced some type of violence in school between August 2011 and August 2012.

Researchers are largely attributing this behaviour to the violence children are exposed to, either at home or the environment they grow up in.

Our producer Lindiwe Mabena visited a school that was recently rocked by allegations of sexual violence in Ekurhuleni.

Listen to report below: