There’s growing concern about learners resorting to excessive violence to solve their problems.

Eastern Cape Police spokesperson, Brigadier Nobuntu Gantana, says a 17-year-old learner from the Eastern Cape is expected to appear in the Alice Magistrate’s Court on a charge of attempted murder and robbery on Monday.

He allegedly robbed, stabbed and dumped a fellow learner into a pit toilet last week.

In another incident, a learner from Trenance Park, north of Durban, was found with a knife lodged in his neck.

Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) Director Prem Balram says, “We deal with this daily, perpetrators of crime and more often now children, right from primary school to secondary school where they are carrying firearms, other weapons such as knives, and bottles and sharpeners to school and after school. When these victims come to us, complaining they have been robbed, they point out other students who have robbed them, they are stabbing, stealing and fleeing with the valuables.”

Schools safety | Calls for tighter security following the stabbing of Grade 8 pupil