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NO TO DEPLOYMENT OF SECURITY FORCES IN SCHOOLS

22/09/2021 08:41:00 SETSABILE NKAMBULE

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MBABANE – The deployment of security forces in schools is a cause for concern to some parents and they are against it.

Their reasoning is that their children may be threatened and this may affect writing of exams. Following the Public Accounts Committee’s recommendation that there should be soldiers and police deployed in schools to maintain peace and order, some parents are against it, saying this would disturb the learning process of their children. PAC Chairperson, who is also Gege Member of Parliament, Musa Kunene, said there was a lot of unrest in schools around the country, adding that opportunists were taking every opportunity to use the pupils to spread the unrest. Worth noting is that the country has been marred by constant protests by pupils in schools. This has seen schools being burnt and ultimately being closed because of the protests.

The most recent schools to be affected were Hosea High and Ngozi Secondary, where the pupils protested for the release of incarcerated Members of Parliament Mduduzi Mabuza of Hosea and Mthandeni Dube of Ngwempisi. In light of all this, parents, teachers and administrators not for the idea of deploying security personnel in schools. In random interviews with some parents, they all mentioned their disapproval on the issue, stating that security personnel carried guns due to the nature of their job and this could be traumatic for the pupils. According to Eswatini Principals Association President Welcome Mhlanga, government had to identify and address the root cause of the violence in schools, which would provide a long-term solution.

Violence

“We have presented our concerns about violence in schools to the minister. Our view is that any other measure, other than addressing the root cause, will only be short-term. As an association, we have and continue to condemn violence and wish for a speedy solution to this unfortunate matter. Schools should remain centres of care and support where staff and pupils feel safe,” he said. Swaziland Association of Schools Administrators (SASA) Secretary General (SG) Siphasha Dlamini was also of the view that schools were centres of care and support. “For teaching and learning to progress smoothly, the environment must be conducive for that. No moving up and down of any other persons except for the learners and their teachers, as well as the school’s security officers who are confined at the main gate to make sure nothing enters the school that may pose danger to the learners,” Siphasha said. She said deploying schools with uniformed forces in schools was against the whole concept of the learning institutions.

Dlamini further recalled that cops were not encouraged to get into schools with police vehicles, let alone in their uniforms. “Whosoever is breeding this anarchic concept may have looked at one side of the serious issue that is a cause for concern for all of us,” she said. Siphasha further said the coronavirus pandemic took away quality time for teaching and learning, and teachers were still struggling to redirect learners with little success. She mentioned that bringing in uniformed and armed security personnel would only add a negative to the efforts teachers were making to educate the future leaders of the country. “There surely must be plan B and C to make sure learners in Eswatini focus on attaining their right to education. We can sincerely and humbly enlist all parties concerned to sit around the table, bring the sharpest minds together to come up with a win-win solution to all the problems of our beloved Eswatini,” she said.

Meanwhile, Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Secretary General Sikelela Dlamini shared almost similar sentiments. He said the PAC was seriously misguided, and the chairperson who issued such remarks was proving to be totally out of touch with reality. “He is exposing his limited understanding of what education is and he is proving not to be aware of the conditions that promote teaching and learning,” said Sikelela. He said teaching and learning had to take place in a calm and conducive environment because it predominantly dealt with the mind, stating that it was impossible to learn in a war-like situation. “The presence of security forces in a school environment depicts a war-like situation. Learners must be free and educators must be free to impart knowledge to learners without being afraid of any kind of censorship,” he said.

Sikelela said education went smoothly if it was delivered in a safe and relaxed environment. He said the idea of having security forces in schools was not a good one as it would affect both learners and educators’ emotional stability. “The presence of security personnel traumatises the learners. Having them in schools instils fear to the learners and the teachers,” he said. He mentioned that as in the past, there were instances where some members of security forces had relationships with learners as their conduct in guarding schools was unregulated. On the other hand, Swaziland Network Campaign for Education for All’s (SWANCEFA) Thulani Lushaba said schools provided learners with not only education, but also physical and psychological protection.
“Going to school to learn, see friends and trusted teachers can give children a sense of normality. The presence of the army and police in schools will impact on these benefits of schooling,” he said. He elaborated that this would have consequences for learners’ access to quality education and good learning outcomes.

Soldiers

He also stated that the presence of soldiers in a school could cause fear and anxiety for learners and teachers. “Teachers too can be nervous about attending school when there are armed men and women there. The quality of teaching and learning may diminish,” he remarked. Lushaba mentioned that Eswatini needed to implement the Safe Schools Declaration and other concrete measures to ensure that learners were able to learn in greater safety. According to Psychologist Ndo Mdlalose, the deployment of security forces in schools would be bad for the mental health of the learners as it would traumatise them. She said it would also remind them of the recent trauma they had gone through with their relatives being allegedly shot by security forces during the unrest.