Violence is becoming rife at schools in the city, and a Newlands principal has warned that action is needed urgently to prevent playing fields turning into battlegrounds. High school heads blame worsening violence on television and film violence, drug abuse, gangs and the abolition of corporal punishment.
Several principals report that old-fashioned playground brawls are becoming serious assaults.
In one case, a matric pupil and martial arts expert hit a younger boy so hard after a school dance at SACS in Newlands that he had to have reconstructive surgery. A teacher at a Wynberg school confirmed an incident in which a boy jumping the tuck shop queue during break was stabbed with a breadknife. But police got wind of the imminent war and intervened by closing in on the instigators before the planned battle. School children are impressionable and easily influenced. When a famous cricketer appearing on television wears a certain headband or whatever, the next day half the school wears them.