News
Can our schools prevent violent incidents by pupils?
Last week, a 19-year-old school pupil fatally stabbed a 16-year-old pupil at a southern suburbs Johannesburg school. While this kind of tragic incident is unheard of at a Jewish school, this is no guarantee that it cannot happen.
TALI FEINBERG
Jewish schools across the country have security at every gate, but how would they prevent a pupil from bringing a weapon to school with the intent to do harm?
This was the question posed by the SA Jewish Report to Jewish schools in Cape Town and Johannesburg. While all said that security was of the utmost importance, none could confirm that measures were in place to prevent a weapon like a knife being brought onto campus by a pupil at the school.
“We are aware of the dangers, but are not allowed to body search students,” said Belinda Rosenfeld of King David High School Linksfield. “If we are alerted to a possible situation or have reason to be suspicious, we would do a bag search,” she said.
Yeshiva College Principal Rob Long said that “the security of our learners, parents, and staff is of utmost importance to us. Hence security is always top of mind.
“The incident of a Forest High pupil stabbing another pupil highlights the problems that society faces in all public places. I do believe that security at our school is vigilant in general.”
Said David Ginsberg, finance and administration director at United Herzlia Schools, “At Herzlia, we take every precaution necessary to ensure a safe and secure school for all.
“We use a combination of resources, guards, and technology, but cannot comment on the specifics. Security measures vary from time to time in accordance with advice from the CSO (Community Security Organisation), local authorities, and service providers.”
It appears that while security is given the highest priority at our schools, this issue should be explored further.