Ilse Fredericks
14 September 2009
Cape Town — Hand-held metal detectors went into service at Western Cape schools for the first time today, in an attempt to stop pupils bringing weapons to school.
The detectors will be issued to 109 of the province's high-risk schools.
The first to receive two of the devices from the Western Cape Education Department is St Andrew's Secondary in Elsies River.
Earlier this year, a pupil there was attacked in a classroom while other pupils and a teacher were present.
The attackers, brandishing a metal pole and a sharp object believed to be a knife, were allegedly an expelled pupil and his brother.
The province's schools reported 60 knife attacks in the first six months of this year.
In 51 attacks, pupils were reported to be the perpetrators. Pupils were the victims in almost all the cases, according to the department's Safe Schools division.
Forty-one of the cases took place on school grounds and 19 off school premises. In nine cases, pupils were stabbed by someone other than a pupil and in one case a staff member was stabbed.
In 2008, 28 of the 80 stabbings reported happened in the first six months.
Speaking before the official launch of the metal detector project at St Andrew's Secondary today, Nariman Khan, manager of the Safe Schools division, said two detectors would be given to each of the province's 109 high-risk schools.
Some of the schools would receive their detectors today while the rest were expected to be distributed during this month.
The detectors would be used to scan pupils and their bags at access points to school and random searches were also expected to be conducted.
Visitors might also be scanned for weapons.
The access points would be managed by school safety officers and safety volunteers, who were previously called Bambanani volunteers.
"The school safety officer and volunteers will be oriented to use the detectors and schools will receive a guideline to comply with certain criteria when using the hand-held metal detectors," Khan said.
The total cost of the project is R250 000.
The metal detector project was due to be launched last month.
Asked to explain the delay, Khan said the service provider responsible for supplying the metal dectors had needed more time to adhere to requests related to the detectors' specifications.
Education MEC Donald Grant said previously that the detectors were not a solution but a way of improving existing safety measures at schools.
He said the use of dangerous weapons was a major concern for the department.
If a weapon was found on a pupil he or she could face disciplinary action in terms of the school's code of conduct.
Grant was due to officially launch the project at St Andrew's this morning.
School security measures have been ramped up in the Western Cape over the past few years.
CCTV cameras have been installed at some schools, and police with sniffer dogs have visited a number of schools around the city to search pupils and their bags.
In the past month, police have conducted searches at about 50 schools, confiscating dagga, knives, screwdrivers and lighters.
Last week they apprehended a pupil at a Delft high school who was in possession of dagga.
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