Over 1.1 Million Learners Experienced Physical Violence at School in 2024

Statement by Desiree van der Walt MP – DA Spokesperson on Basic Education:

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is outraged by new Statistics South Africa data showing that more than 1.1 million learners experienced violence at school in 2024, with teachers identified more often than fellow learners as perpetrators of physical violence.

Teachers are now responsible for more reported physical violence against learners than fellow learners themselves. This is a national disgrace and a clear indication that the system is failing to protect children in its care.

The responsibility for educator discipline rests with provincial education departments as employers. Yet these figures show that too many cases are either not being reported, not being investigated swiftly, or not being concluded with decisive action. Schools are supposed to be places of safety, learning and opportunity. Instead, for more than one million children, they have become places of fear, intimidation and abuse.

The fact that authority figures entrusted with protecting children are reportedly responsible for a significant share of this violence makes the situation even more shocking. More than 150 000 learners reported experiencing physical violence from teachers, while girls are disproportionately affected by both verbal and physical abuse perpetrated by educators.

Every child has the constitutional right to dignity, safety and quality education. When learners are assaulted, humiliated or abused by those tasked with educating them, the state is failing in its most basic duty.

These figures are not merely statistics. Behind every number is a child whose trust has been broken, whose confidence has been shattered, and whose educational prospects may have been permanently damaged. Violence in schools contributes to poor academic performance, increased dropout rates, mental health challenges and the normalisation of violence as a means of resolving conflict.

The DA is deeply concerned that despite years of promises, teacher misconduct and violence remain widespread. Reports that the South African Council for Educators (SACE) continues to receive hundreds of complaints involving assault and sexual misconduct underscore the urgency of the crisis.

The DA therefore calls for urgent, measurable action, including:

• Every report of violence on a learner must be reported to the Department, every time;
• All educators must be checked against the Sex Offenders Register immediately;
• A zero-tolerance policy for violence upon learners, so that abusive educators are not allowed to remain in classrooms while cases drag on; and
• Each school must have its own safety interventions against violence.

In this regard, the DA notes the importance of the Police doing their jobs to stop crime at schools.

The DA will request that the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) and SACE, as well as the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Department of Social Development, appear before the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education to provide a progress report on:

• All educators being checked against the Sex Offenders Register immediately;
• The speed and outcomes of disciplinary processes for misconduct; and
• The effectiveness of interdepartmental cooperation in preventing and responding to violence in schools.

Any teacher who abuses a child has no place in the education system, and any provincial government that fails to act against such abuse is failing the learners it is entrusted to protect.

The DA will continue to fight for safe schools where learners are protected, respected and given every opportunity to succeed.