116 EC school patrollers get trained

SCORES of safety patrollers who had been protecting schools around the province have now been trained.

The education department took 116 patrollers from around the province on a four-day training course that ends today at the Gali Thembani High School to equip them with the necessary skills and information on how to conduct their job.

Speaking about the programme, the department’s provincial safety officer Mphathisi Songca said after identifying a number of “hot-spot” schools in the province, they sat down with the department’s expanded public works programme (EPWP) to work out an intervention.

“We contracted people from the community after identifying the hot spot schools. We trained them in safety and security and in the national schools safety framework, which looks at curbing violence at schools,” he said.

Songca said each district had at least two patrollers, depending on the need in the district.

“We identified 98 schools in the province and we have 116 patrollers allocated. We have noted that these schools were performing badly before they had patrollers and since the patrollers took over the results have changed,” Songca said.

He said schools that wanted patrollers should contact the department so that funding can be made available.

The department of education’s EPWP project coordinator Yolanda Nkathazo said the programme would help in making schools a safer place to be.

Sipho Frans said the programme had already helped a lot in fighting criminal activities in Sijongephambili High School in Whittlesea. — thembiles@dispatch.co.za