METAL DETECTORS IN SCHOOLS ARE 'A QUICK FIX SOLUTION'

Pietermaritzburg: 24 May 2006

The IFP urges caution following the proposal of KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Ina Cronje to install metal detectors at school doors to combat the increase in violent incidents involving guns and knives.

"Metal detectors are a mere quick fix, short-term solution to a complex and long-term problem," said Dr Lionel Mtshali MPP who leads the IFP in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Parliament.

Dr Mtshali, who was previously a provincial schools inspector, also said:

"Installing metal detectors at school doors is no novelty. As a security measure, they date back to the first instances of school violence in America.
Metal detectors can only provide an illusion of safety. As such, they merely treat the symptoms. They can succeed in restricting the tools of violence, but fail to address the underlying cause.

"Metal detectors have become anecdotal evidence for counter-productive policy.
They make schools look like prisons and school children feel like prospective prisoners. It follows that if children are made to feel they are being treated like criminals, they are more likely to act like criminals.

"We must remember that school violence is a global phenomenon and a reflection of violence in wider society. Many of our children are confined to a life in communities where our communal neglect allows violence to occur frequently.
The violence they experience at home then naturally spills over into our schools.

"One realistic way to make our schools, or at least our classrooms, safer is to make them smaller. International research tends to conclude that smaller schools have proportionally fewer incidents of aggressive behaviour, vandalism, theft, drug and sexual abuse and gang participation than larger schools.

"Community-based schools give their pupils the comfort of the familiar. Pupils will receive more support from their teachers. This will result in better attendance and lower dropout rates. Improving school climate will lead to better education. A small classroom with a lively interaction between pupils, teachers and parents is a microcosm of a well-functioning community."

Contact: Dr Lionel Mtshali, 083 256 4902