Question NW374 to the Minister of Basic Education

Reply:

1. National School Safety Framework

The Department in collaboration with Provincial Education Departments, has continued to train schools on the implementation of the National School Safety Framework (NSSF) which is a guiding framework in addressing all forms of violent incidences in schools including bullying. The NSSF empowers schools to identify and manage all safety threats in schools, establish school safety committees comprising of stakeholders such as teachers, police officers, school governing body members and learner representative council members. By the end of December 2023, The following number of schools were physically trained on the NSSF: 1441 schools were trained in the North West, 3220 schools were trained in KZN, 229 schools were trained in Gauteng, 535 schools were trained in Northern Cape, 508 schools were trained in Mpumalanga, 1483 schools were trained in the Eastern Cape, 151 schools were trained in the Western Cape, 18 schools were trained in the Free  State.

The Department in collaboration with the Wits RHI has also developed and rolled out the NSSF digital training course. This course has received SACE Accreditation and a circular was released to all provinces, districts and schools to complete the training. To date, over 130 000 people nationwide competed the training.

2. The Prevention and Management of Bullying in schools

The Provincial Education Departments have continued to train schools on the Prevention and Management of Bullying in schools. The schools have been empowered to identify various forms of bullying, identify perpetrators and victims of bullying, develop reporting mechanisms of bullying in schools and develop anti-bullying policies which are aligned to Codes of conduct. By the end of 2023, at least 1441 schools participated in the training in the North-West.  

Moreover, the Department also requires schools to develop and implement anti-bullying policies, in line with the schools' codes of conduct. The Codes of conduct are developed by the School Governing Bodies and adopted by learners and parents of the schools. They further highlight the disciplinary procedures to be undertaken after incidents are reported and sanctions which will be undertaken against the perpetrators who are found guilty.  The Department is also in the process of developing a new Bullying Prevention Strategy which will guide the sector on how to deal with bullying in schools holistically. 

3. District Monitoring of School Safety Programmes

In the financial year of 2023-24, the Department has monitored 25 districts across nine provinces on all school safety programmes including bullying prevention in schools. Through the monitoring sessions, the Department encouraged districts to regularly monitor schools on the implementation of codes of conduct and collaborate with various key partners such as the Department of Social Development, Childline and civil society organisations, and parents to address the scourge of bullying in schools.  

4. Learner Support Agents (LSA) 

Through the HIV and AIDS Conditional Grant, the Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and Global fund support, Learner Support Agents (LSAs) are placed in schools to provide support to vulnerable learners, link learners to health and other social welfare services and ensure that care and support activities function better in schools.

LSAs play a crucial role in providing capacity to existing structural arrangements in schools that aim to ensure the school environment remains inclusive, with particular attention paid to vulnerable learners. They are a key liaison between the school and external partners, including other government departments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private partners who provide care and support to vulnerable learners and their families. 3947 Schools have LSAs placed, with 323 Child and Youth Care Workers also allocated to schools to support bullying and mental health and psychosocial support programmes.

5. Suicide Prevention and Mental Health

A School information pack for Principals, Educators, School Support teams and leaners was developed and disseminated to raise awareness on risks, warning signs and support for teenage suicide during the Teenage Suicide Prevention week which ran from 11 – 18 February 2024. The information pack included: A poster, pamphlets, a video and social media posts.

The Department is in the process of putting together a suicide prevention school kit. The school kit will capacitate schools to assess their ability to prevent suicide among students and respond to suicides that may occur, understand strategies that can help students who are at risk for suicide, understand how to respond to the suicide of a student or other member of the school community, identify suicide prevention programmes and activities that are effective for individual schools and respond to the needs  of each  students. The kit will be rolled out in September 2024.