The past two weeks have seen chaos, violence and unruly behaviour erupt in schools across Phoenix amid various TikTok challenges doing the rounds as well as bullying incidents that have left learners with injuries.
The latest school affected is Lenarea Secondary which has come under the spotlight after several fights broke out and learners were found in possession of dangerous weapons. Enraged by this, members of the community staged a protest calling for calm and action to be taken against inappropriate behaviour of learners in schools, last week. Parents said they were utterly shocked to witness learners coming down the school gates in their numbers and began jumping on their cars, while bullying other learners who refused to be part of the disruptive behaviour. A memorandum airing parents’ grievances was handed to the school. Speaking to The Phoenix Tabloid, a concerned parent, Somashni Naidoo said there’s been a drastic change in the behavioural pattern of learners, not only in Phoenix but across all areas. She said learners who refuse to behave appropriately in school must be suspended.
“Schools must not be lenient to learners who choose violence instead of their books. There should be consequences for their actions, we have had enough of delinquent behaviour and will not tolerate learners who are instigators of such, bringing schools to disrepute while in school uniform. We cannot afford to have another fatal stabbing in a school as we’ve seen in Verulam in recent weeks. As parents, we must take a stance against these issues and ensure that schools are safe for all children. We need to ask ourselves, how are these learners getting weapons into the school, parents need to be hands on and must check their kids bags regularly. Police must conduct spot checks in schools,” said Naidoo. Another concerned resident, Mr N Naidoo, said while fetching his grandson from school, he was appalled to have witnessed a fight recently, where a learner took out a weapon and threatened to use it on his peers. He said: “A group of boys came down the school driveway and began fighting in full view of parents, learners and other members of the public. One of the learners ran further down where some cars were parked on the side of the school gates and came back holding a big knife in his hand. The security guards just sat there and watched as the group of learners fought – they did not even attempt to separate the fight. The learner with the knife was stopped from using the weapon by one of the teachers”.
He added: “My biggest concern is that I have my grandson in this school. He’s a very quiet child and if we don’t put a stop to this disruptive behaviour, it will carry on this way and innocent children will end up getting stabbed and hurt”. A parent who did not want to be named said it was her son’s first year in high school and she was astonished by some of the incidents that occur at the school. She said that some learners were selling space muffins (drug infused muffins) to their peers, which was concerning. “As parents, we are under the impression that our children are in a safe environment where teaching and learning is the order of the day, unaware that this is not the case. If space muffins are being sold openly within the school property, during schooling hours, it’s quite clear that these learners are highly intoxicated during class lessons which is very disturbing,” said the parent.
She said bullying was also rife. “There are known bullies, learners who are in the higher grades, who have previously failed and are quiet older. They walk into every other class, but their own, and cause a disruption during lessons. These bullies are not disciplined by the teachers, they do as they please in the presence of the teacher while teaching the class. We want the school to discipline these ‘gangsters’ because they are instilling fear into the younger learners who are not exposed to such behaviour. It’s very scary and I hope the parents, teachers and school governing body can all work together to eliminate these problems.”
Meanwhile, the staff and learners from AM Moolla Spes Nova School for children with special needs, had to be evacuated following a bomb threat on Friday, 25 February. Captain Louise Naidoo from SAPS Phoenix said the bomb threat was linked to a TikTok challenge. “A member of staff found a note in the boy’s toilet which read: ‘There is 3 bombs placed in the school and will go off in 1 hour, 2 hours time. TikTok challenge accepted’. The note was handed to the principal who immediately evacuated learners and staff. A search was conducted by members of the Bomb Disposal Unit and no suspicious items or packages were found,” said Captain Naidoo. Community Policing Forum Chairperson, Umesh Singh, said reports on the violent and disruptive behaviour by learners has been handed over to crime intelligence and that investigations are currently ongoing. “We are urging parents to play an active role with the violence that is taking place in our schools. Each school has a code of conduct that is signed and should suspend any learner who is involved in disruptive behaviour. The public is urged to report these incidents to SAPS Phoenix,” said Singh.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) KZN Spokesperson for Education, Dr Imran Keeka said: “Learners have lost an immense amount of classroom time and they must know that their priority must be to be actively involved in learning instead of distractions during school time. Some of these are destructive and disrespectful. Parents must be encouraged to dissuade their children from anything that will keep them from a classroom especially because these challenges do not academically benefit them and have the potential to be contraventions of any school’s code of conduct. The consequence then, is possible suspension and even expulsion from school depending on the severity of the contravention. We call on everyone to make sure that learning and teaching is the main priority of the schooling day, not distractions that can even be harmful.” Despite several attempts to reach the Department of Education, a response was not forthcoming at the time of going to print.
