The Department of Education on Monday said it has suspended classes at Forest High School in Turfontein, south of Johannesburg.
This comes after a Grade 10 learner was stabbed to death, allegedly by two other learners outside the school premises. It is alleged that the fight between the learners was gang related.
“We have a strong unit that will make sure that they search every learner before they enter school premises, and also we have strong linkage between the police and the school. We will put every child under the microscope,” said MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi.
Picture: Itumeleng English/African News Agency(ANA)
The department said it has assigned a police officer to every school that has been identified as high risk.
“We want learners to be always protected because you will never know when are you going to be attacked. Since it happened outside the school It shows that the school premises are safer so the community must also play the important role to avoid such incidents.
“We’ve got a programme where we are taking problematic learners to stay in a prison for a day just to interact with prisoners, so that they can have an idea of what is happening in jail and that has assisted us because we now have a number of them withdrawing from gang related matters,” said Panyaza.
Pathologists have removed the body. Police remained on the scene for further investigations.
-ANA, editing by Catherine Rice
