The recent upsurge of violence in our schools should not come as a surprise, but ought to be cause for great concern to our country. The recent acts of violence by teenagers in schools do definitely not make us proud, both as parents and parliamentarians. As a society we have not yet fully outgrown the culture of violent behaviour in general.
The culture of solving disputes through any means other than violence still has to permeate through the enormous recesses of our communities. Just recently, we had a national project of electing school governing bodies. Should we not ask ourselves, as parliamentarians, what role we play in ensuring the quality and successful election of those SGBs? Therefore, what efforts have we made to ensure that SGBs provide good leadership to their schools, such that violence in all its forms begins, at least, to subside in schools?
I very strongly maintain that in spite of the constitutional obligation that the government, through the Department of Education, has of providing security for our children in schools, we too as parliamentarians have a role to play in this daunting task.
Let me draw your attention to two core objectives of Parliament: facilitating public participation and involvement, as well as facilitating co-operative government. The ANC will continue to work with all the stakeholders, including our SGBs, in our efforts to solve the security challenges facing our learners and educators. I thank you. [Applause.]