The Eastern Cape Department of Education has noticed with regret the increasing number of cases of bullying in schools reported over the past months.
The Cambridge High School assault of one boy the other is the recent one. These sadly reoccur despite many strides made to curb these incidents, as such, this has forced the Department to restrategize its plans on dealing with them.
These developed strategies are tailored to further explore and will be implemented incrementally until all schools are reached in the entire province.
Some of the programmes that are contained by these strategies have already started whilst others are at the initial stages, and will take off soon.
The following are the planned strategies for implementation:
1.Peer education based interventions Programmes:
Peer education clubs:
560 Peer education clubs have been established in Care Support Learning and Teaching (CSTL) schools to decrease the incidents of risky behavior. These peer education clubs help the groups to define their concerns and seek solutions through the mutual sharing of information and experiences. They become role models within the school environment.
They empathise and understand the emotions, thoughts, feelings, language of each other. Below are planned programmes that will be implemented in schools to achieve the above goals and these will keep learners occupied and gain life skills.
( Dialogues, Debates, Music groups and choirs, Moot Court, Youth Citizen Action Programme (YCAP) , INDONI, Sports against substance abuse, Heritage Programmes, Girls and Boys Education Movement ( GBEM), Ngoma Dance Moves)
- Learner support agents:
There are eight hundred and fifty (850) Learner support Agents that are appointed to provide support to learners at school level, from selected schools. Out of 850 LSAs, forty eight (48) learner support agents and two (02) learner support mentors were appointed on the 1st December 2022, in response to the Bisho High School Incident.
The roles and responsibilities of LSAs in the BCM project is to ensure that the following is done in the selected schools:
- Work closely with the appointed school health educators, SGBs and School Based Support Teams (SBSTs)
- Create a database of all Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) for targeted support, referrals and skills development.
- Partnership with Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Social Development
Integrated school health programmes (ISHP)
The department has strengthened relationships with Department of Health and Department of Social Development and monthly meetings take place where ISHP plan is presented for joint implementation and progress reports.
This ISHP is supported and monitored by DBE. There is a mobile school health bus that has been procured by DOE to cater for the health needs of the learners. The bus started at Joe Gqabi , Sara Baartman and is now in Amathole West – servicing the learners in selected primary schools. The three departments support each other as some of the findings in the Mobile Bus road shows indicate psycho-social challenges that require support from social workers.
- Partnership with SAPS:
LSAs continue working with SAPS as they ensure that schools are linked to nearest police stations. SAPS conduct drug awareness programmes in schools and random searching in cases where drug abuse cases and fights are reported. The relationship will be resuscitated in districts and schools where this is not functional.
Audit of schools actively linked to SAPS is conducted by LSAs. Schools are encouraged to join Junior Commissioner Clubs organized by SAPS.
In those clubs they are taught discipline and link the school with nearest Police Station, reporting all safety challenges in their various programmes. The programme will be advocated to all schools encouraging them to join the competition.
The Department will be conducting an Anti-bullying event which is planned for first week of March 2022.
Issued by: ECDoE Communication for more information please contact Departmental spokesperson Mali Mtima @ 084 230 1976/MEC Spokesperson Vuyiseka Mboxela @ 072 713 2222/Acting Director Communications: Nyameka Mgijima-Tokwe @ 060 530 0348