Statement by Minister Debbie Schäfer Western Cape Minister of Education
12 February 2020
The WCED has been alerted to a planned ‘shut down’ of Khayelitsha schools on Thursday and Friday this week by the Khayelitsha Education and Development Forum (KEF/KDF). The group has demanded that the WCED provide five armed security guards to each school in Khayelitsha 24 hours a day – a demand that is impossible for the WCED to meet.
Preventing learners from attending school is never an acceptable way to resolve these challenges, and we condemn this in the strongest of terms. Causing learners to lose out on valuable teaching time directly infringes on their right to a basic education.
School safety is a core priority for the Western Cape Government, and the WCED is doing everything in its power to ensure that learners and teachers are safe at school. This is something which we take seriously because every child deserves to learn in a safe environment. To this end, the WCED has worked with all stakeholders to develop sustainable responses to crime in and around schools.
We are therefore disappointed by misinformation being spread by the KEF/KDF. They have claimed that they were promised security guards by myself and the WCED. This is not true.