High school learner stabbed during education committee’s oversight visit

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A learner at Eldorado Park Secondary School, south of Johannesburg was stabbed by an illegal intruder on Tuesday.

It is reported that the incident took place while the Gauteng legislature’s portfolio committee on community safety together with the education committee were at the school on an unannounced oversight visit.

The joint unannounced oversight visit was part of the Committees’ Focus Intervention Study (FIS) on assessing the effectiveness of school safety interventions in fighting violence and crime in schools.

The committees had to adjourn their meeting with the principal and school management team to allow them to speedily attend to the incident.

It is alleged that the learner was stabbed by an illegal intruder at the school, who fled the scene after the incident. He was promptly stabilized and rushed to a nearby health care facility.

“The incident highlights the scourge of violence and criminality that exists in some Gauteng schools, which prompted the FIS that the two committees are engaged in,” said committee chairperson, Bandile Masuku.

During the visit, committee members were shown multiple knives that were confiscated from learners. They also learned about a learner who brought a gun to school the previous day.

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He continued, “Shocking incidents like these cannot be left unattended as they are not isolated cases and need urgent interventions by government and civil society. It is for this reason that the committees will table their findings and recommendations during a House Sitting and compel the department of education to act”.

The committees will convene a stakeholder engagement session on August 31, 2023 to bring various experts together to develop concrete recommendations that will form part of the consolidated report to be tabled in the House.