Plan to curb school violence put on table

Life orientation teachers could soon receive training in values, citizenship and human rights if global advocacy group Avaaz has its way.

Representatives of the organisation met Basic Education officials yesterday.

The meeting comes after the organisation called on Minister Angie Motshekga to investigate the extent of violence at schools and review how the national curriculum teaches pupils about values through subjects like life orientation.

Avaaz embarked on a campaign to end school violence following the rape of a Grade 12 boy at a Northern Cape school last month.

The organisation's global campaigner, Nic Mackay, said the training of life orientation teachers was important in enabling pupils to become responsible citizens.

Mackay said life orientation was the only subject designed to address societal issues effectively, but was not being "taken seriously".

"We currently have a situation where a significant amount of teachers are not equipped to teach the subject."

Dr René Ferguson, life orientation lecturer at Wits University who also attended the meeting, said the current curriculum for the subject was "very overcrowded".

"This results in fragmented learning because the subject focuses on a large number of topics," she said.

Learning outcomes of life orientation under the CAPS curriculum include health promotion, social development, personal development and physical development from grades R to 9.

The Safe and Caring Schools initiative, in partnership with Unicef, is one of the Department of Basic Education's programmes put in place to promote safety at schools.