Bullying continues to undermine ‘safety, dignity & mental health’ of pupils - Parly’s Maimela

Parliament’s basic education committee said bullying in schools can't be ignored and continues to undermine the dignity and mental health of school learners.

The chairperson of the committee, Joy Maimela, said they remain concerned at the rise in reports of bullying in schools following last week’s incident at Cape Town’s Milnerton High School.

ALSO READ: Parly committee demands urgent & decisive action on Milnerton High School bullying incident

Six pupils accused of bullying were charged with assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm after a video of them assaulting a fellow learner went viral on social media.

They appeared in court last week and were released on R2,000 bail.

Maimela was addressing the issue at a Parliament social cluster briefing on where she spoke on exam readiness and bullying.

"While we take pride in our examination readiness, we cannot ignore a challenge that continues to undermine the safety, dignity and mental health of too many learners which is bullying."

She said they’ve now directed the basic education department to assist all schools to ensure that they have anti-bullying policies in place.

"What we have noted, though, is a majority of our schools do not have a comprehensive anti-bullying policy. What they do have is a code of conduct which really just touches the issue of bullying."