To improve school safety, parents must play an active role - Chiloane

JOHANNESBURG - A long-term solution to better protect Gauteng schools will not work without active parent participation.

That’s the view of the provincial education department, which has identified over 245 schools as high-risk in terms of safety.

Among these, 70 schools are in the red zone due to gangsterism, drug trade, and other illegal activities taking place in their vicinity, a serious cause for concern.

On Saturday, Education MEC Matome Chiloane held the first of four school safety imbizos aimed at developing collaborative solutions to these safety challenges.

Chiloane said that while contingency measures were in place to improve school safety, parents must also play an active role.

"You can’t discuss school safety without understanding that the school is the microcosm of the community. What happens in the community always finds itself in our schools. Kids always copy who they see as role models or elders do and they’ll copy it," said Chiloane.