Deputy Chair of Committees, Honourable Mpapa Kanyane, will visit selected schools in Ekurhuleni as part of the annual campaign conducted by GPL Presiding Officers to test their readiness for the new year.
This year’s campaign comes as the province grapples with increasing incidents of violence across schools.
As part of this year’s visits, the Legislature has incorporated a proactive and multifaceted approach, where law enforcement agencies will conduct random searches on learners to check for weapons and illegal substances. The searched are envisaged to continue beyond the Legislature’s campaign to ensure that school premises are weapon and drug-free.
Katlehong’s O.R. Tambo High School, which is one among those to be visited, has continually struggled with unruly learners. This has previously led to the school undertaking a social experiment of exposing some learners to ‘a day in a prisoner’s life’, where they spent time in a holding cell. The experiment was part of a remedial intervention by the GPL in partnership with the Boksburg Correctional Facility, which envisaged changing learner behaviour by educating them about the consequences of crime.
The visits will also see the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) driving awareness among eligible learners about the importance and right to vote in the upcoming elections 2024.