21 Sep 2022

Collaboration between teachers, parents and other stakeholders is vital in curbing learners’ unruly behaviour, hence improving school results, says Seepapitso Senior Secondary School head, Mr Petrus Mosomane.

Speaking during a consultative meeting between teachers, parents and other stakeholders on Tuesday September 20 in Kanye, Mr Mosomane said, “We are here today to find a solution, since the idea of schooling is to groom responsible future leaders not criminals,” he added.

He said some pupils did not attend school, while some went to school, but did not attend classes except for roaming around the premises and eventually jumping the fence.

“We have been informed that they spend most of their time in some abandoned houses, where they use drugs, especially marijuana. They have cut the school fence at different points,” he said.

This behaviour, he opined, was a result of drug use, noting that most of the learners were uncontrollable and used vulgar language at school.

Mr Mosomane said the school authorities had caught some pupils with marijuana at school and upon interrogation, they revealed that they had been using the drug since their primary schooling days, hence the addiction.

He said the culprits promised to show the school authorities where they got the drugs, and they then involved the police to assist.

However, he said they never got any feedback from the police as to who the suppliers were and what was being done.

“The root cause of our problems is the people who supply our learners with drugs and that is where the police have to start in trying to address this issue. Unfortunately we have not been assisted up to now,” he said.

The school head said in an effort to feed their habit, some of the pupils ended up getting involved in criminal activities such as shoplifting.

“We once had a case where some leaners were beaten up by the security officers for shoplifting while they were supposed to be here in class,” he added.

The pupils, he said, also brought weapons such as knives and scissors to school, making the school premises unsafe for both teachers and fellow learners.

The school head said when summoned to school in an effort to find a solution, some parents revealed that they were aware of their children’s behaviour, while some defended theirs.

Mr Mosomane appealed to parents to work with other stakeholders such as dikgosi to mould their children.

For his part, Kgosi Sebati Dikgageng of Sebako ward said most of the parents did not want their children to go to Seepapitso because of poor results, caused by uncontrollable pupils.

“It is now time to find a solution and return our school to its glory days,” he said.

He said parents needed to monitor their children on a daily basis, check their school books for progress as well as their bags for undesirable objects such as drugs and weapons.

“We have to work together to stop this unruly behaviour,” he added.

Kgosi Dikgageng highlighted the need for parents to regularly visit the school to enquire about their children’s performances and behaviour in order to detect anything negative at an early stage and address it.

“We have to take meaningful part in our children’s education,” he said.

Mr Mosimane Dikole urged fellow parents to take their children to church, since living in the light of God would keep them away from social ills.

“Church will teach them what is right and what is wrong,” he said.

He also said they had to monitor what children bought with their pocket money and ensure that they used their smart phones for the right purposes such as research.

Most believed some parents were partly to blame because they were aware of their children’s behaviour, yet they were reluctant to take any action, while some defended their children when informed about their unbecoming behaviour.

They registered concerns about children’s rights, noting that they failed to discipline them as they might get arrested for that.

They said the laws had to be reviewed, for corporal punishment to be re-introduced in schools.

Some parents said another reason for learners’ bad behaviour was that the school was over populated, adding that the village needed a second senior school.

They also urged teachers to monitor pupils’ attendance by the use of registers, adding that if used daily and in all classes, those missing classes would be easily detected and brought to book, in the process curb drug use, which was believed to be the root causes of their bad manners.

Parents agreed to start taking part in their children’s education and working closely with relevant stakeholders to find solutions to all problems, with the hope that the move would eventually improve school results. Ends