The spate of violent activities in various schools in the region is threatening the fluidity of learning and the lives of teachers and some innocent learners – a prevailing bizarre phenomenon in the education system.

This comes after Remmogo High School in Maruping village was turned into a battlefield by notorious learners who wanted to settle their unfinished conflict at the school precinct on June 7, 2018.

Parents said that no day passes unchallenged at the school as learners attend lessons with dangerous weapons in their satchels, awaiting any provocation from fellow learners or educators.

The District Director of Education Mr Vuyani Teise, his top officials, the Mayor of Ga-Segonyana local municipality Neo George Masegela, members of the school governing board, the police, parents and learners gathered at the school the following morning to try and restore peace and order.

Two learners from Severn Miles village attacked a fellow learner, according to insiders, until he was unconscious. He was from Batlharos village and was attacked within the school premises about an undisclosed dispute. This happened right in front of educators by these disrespectful learners.

The learner eventually recovered, now stricken with the spirit of vengeance. However, there was some authoritative intervention to curb the onslaught between the warring groups. The principal of the school did not condone the behaviour of the ensuing gangsterism and charged the disobedient learners.

When the charged learners arrived home, they did not tell the truth of what had transpired, but rather created a story that convinced their parents to the effect that teachers victimise them. Before weighing up the matter, the agitated parents mobilised and approached the school with the heart of hungry lions only to be tamed by the truth on their arrival at the school.

The confrontation was turned into a fruitful meeting where the parents, police, education officials and the mayor called for restraint. Educators had threatened earlier to leave the school due to lack of safety at the school. It was in the meeting that the mayor succinctly said that discipline is like charity – it begins at home – therefore parents must show their authority over their children.

He further cautioned that if the trend of learner anarchy continues in this fashion, there is a probability of scarcity of educators in this region, a disgraceful symbol of weakness in the midst of leadership structures.

Parents added their concern that learners had disclosed that drugs sold to them on the streets of Kuruman by certain foreign nationals were the source of the mayhem.

There was a clarion call that parents must distance themselves when the police are “purging sinners” peddling with drugs at schools. They mentioned the grey spots where these drugs are sold. Learners are prepared to name and shame individual traders where they source the drugs.

Fashion labels have emerged as another centre of conflict among learners where Adidas, Nike and Puma caps, t-shirts and footwear define individual status.

Time and again, the police arrest the culprits red-handedly, but the following day drug dealers will be bragging at them rendering the exercise futile. Schools have become a fertile drug market hence the deterioration of discipline among learners to school authorities. To restore order in schools, there was a bold message, that the catalytic drug lords must be eliminated first.