Question NW3395 to the Minister of Basic Education
28 September 2015 - NW3395
Boshoff, Ms SH to ask the Minister of Basic Education
(1)What percentage of learners at schools have been (a) threatened with violence, (b) assaulted, (c) sexually abused and (d) exposed to corporal punishment by a person at the relevant school in each (i) province and (ii) district in the 2013-14 financial year; (2) which schools in each (a) province and (b) district have implemented the Early Warning System which is a guide and management tool that was designed by her department in conjunction with the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention for school management teams, school governing bodies and teachers and learners to identify and report on risks and threats at schools; (3) which schools in each (a) province and (b) district are still aligned to the Safety in Education Partnership Protocol between her department and the SA Police Service signed in 2011 to reduce crime and violence in schools and in communities; (4) which schools in each (a) province and (b) district are utilising the SA School Administration and Management System to report on behavioural transgressions, crimes and violence; (5) how many schools in each (a) province and (b) district have established Safe School Committees?
Reply:
1. Extrapolated from the National School Violence Study of 2012 (released in 2013) amongst randomly selected secondary schools from all provinces (of which the sample comprised of 5939 learners, 121 principals and 239 educators),
(a) 12, 2% had been threatened with violence by someone at school;
(b) 6. 3% have been assaulted;
(c) 4, 7% had been sexually assaulted or raped;
(d) in terms of the National School Violence study of 2012, an overall of 49,8% of learners claimed to have been caned or spanked by an educator or principal.
Provincial rates of corporal punishment ranged from 22.4% to 73.7%, with the highest levels of corporal punishment observed in KwaZulu-Natal (73.7%).
When assessing the rates per province, the data shows increases as well as decreases in the rates of corporal punishment by schools across the country.
Increases in the use of corporal punishment over the past four years were noted for Mpumalanga (rates increased from 43.6% in 2008 to 63.5% in 2012), the Eastern Cape (rates increased from 58.5% in 2008 to 66.9% in 2012), KwaZulu-Natal (rates increased from 48.7% in 2008 to 73.7% in 2012) and the Western Cape (rates increased from 17.1% in 2008 to 22.4% in 2012).
The most significant decrease in the rates of corporal punishment reported by learners was observed for Gauteng, with rates dropping from 61% in 2008 to 22.8% in 2012.
The use of corporal punishment as a means of discipline was also less frequently reported in Limpopo, the Free State, the North West and the Northern Cape in the 2012 wave of the study.
While the difference between male and female learners was not significant, males (50.4%) did report fractionally higher levels of corporal or physical punishment than female (49.4%) learners
(2) The Early Warning System (currently referred to as the National School Safety Framework) was approved in April 2015 and the training of Provincial Master Trainers commenced on 1 June 2015 and was completed on 27 August 2015. The roll out of school-based training workshops by the trained Provincial Master Trainers will commence in January 2016. Therefore no statistical data is available regarding implementation in (a) provinces and (b) district.
(3) The Partnership Protocol between Department of Basic Education and South African Police Services (SAPS) is still valid and schools linked to local police stations are collaborating with police officials in terms of combatting crime and violence in schools.
(4) Training workshops conducted by Information Management Systems are currently underway (a) in provinces and (b) districts on the utilization of the South African School Administration and Management System (SA-SAMS) to report on behavioural transgressions, crimes and violence.
(5) As part of the Partnership Protocol between the Department and SAPS 16603 (verified data) schools have been link to local police stations and established School Safety Committees.