Salt River pupils ‘scale fence, smoke dagga’

Cape Town - The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) is engaging with Salt River Secondary School to address a complaint about pupils jumping the school fence and misbehaving.

In a complaint to the WCED, a concerned resident said sometimes the pupils would smoke dagga and make a noise in the area.

The resident said on the corner of Rochester and Campbell streets they have also noticed unsavoury characters approaching the pupils and handing over suspicious items.

“We tried on numerous occasions to go chat with the principal or deputy principal, but neither seems to be available nor do they even get back,” the complainant said.

WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the department became aware of the matter when the complainant emailed the Ministry and the media.

“The complainant confirmed that they had not reported the matter to the department before sending it to the media and other recipients.

“The complainant was asked on two occasions to provide a contact number so the school and district could engage with them on the complaint but no response was received.

We again ask they provide this so we can resolve the matter. In the meantime, the district is engaging with the school,” she said.

SA Democratic Teachers Union provincial chairperson Jonovan Rustin said the Community Police Forum, parents and the school needed to co-operate to address the matter of truancy at schools.

“We are extremely concerned about ... the alleged truancy, and abuse of substances. We also need to ensure our parents play their role by patrolling the areas.”

The school could not be reached for comment.

Cape Times