Crime is getting worse in schools in KwaZulu-Natal, as property worth millions of rand has been stolen in recent years.
In these three years, property worth R14 million has been stolen from schools in KwaZulu-Natal. This was revealed by the Minister of Education, Mr. Sipho Hlomuka, when he presented the Department’s budget to the KwaZulu-Natal Legislative Assembly, on Friday.
Hlomuka said they are worried about the theft of school supplies.
“In this stolen property, we count 84 laptops, 501 tablets, 127 data projectors and seven smart screens.”
Hlomuka said they are also worried about the safety of teachers in schools because of criminals robbing schools.
“We should all take up the issue of safety in schools. Schools should be a safe place to learn and teach. Incidents of violence, theft of property, drug use and so on make schools not a safe place.”
Hlomuka said the Ministry is continuing with the National School Safety Framework.
“We will also strengthen the programs to avoid violence in schools, which is bullying, drug use and sexual violence. We will encourage good behavior in schools. We renewed the cooperation agreement with the police. We are working with the police in the districts to come up with programs to fight crime in schools. We have plans to search students and also confiscate illegal items in schools.”
The Ministry’s budget for this year is R71 billion, the Ministry is the one that receives a large part of the KwaZulu-Natal budget but continues to face financial problems.
Hlomuka said that the number of students benefiting from the school transport program will be reduced by thousands due to the reduction in the Department’s budget.
He said that the number of cars hired by the department will be reduced when a new tender is issued, which will reduce the number of students benefiting from the program.
“If you look at five years ago, this program was allocated R459 million, this year it was allocated R366 million. This means that hundreds of vehicles that were working to transport students will be stopped. Thousands of students will be left out. This program is in danger of coming to its knees if this problem is not addressed.”
Hlomuka said that this year 76,000 students have benefited, and he said that these students walk more than 3km to go to school.
“The existence of the program has protected students from many things that would have happened to them if they walked long distances. Some students chose to drop out of school because of walking long distances. Many schools with students benefiting from this program have had surprises in their matric results.”