Parents Sound Alarm as Violence Rocks KwaZulu-Natal Schools

Stabbings, brawls, and fear in the classroom

For many parents in KwaZulu-Natal, school drop-off has become an act of faith. Once, the biggest worry was whether children had remembered their lunch or completed their homework. Now, it’s whether they will come home unharmed.

Last Friday, two shocking incidents in Verulam and uMgungundlovu threw the province’s education system into crisis. In the most harrowing case, a 17-year-old Grade 10 learner at Trenance Park Secondary was stabbed in the neck with a kitchen knife during a fight. Witnesses said the boy staggered back onto school grounds with the blade still lodged in his neck before paramedics rushed him to hospital. Remarkably, he survived surgery and is now recovering. A 14-year-old fellow learner was arrested.

On the very same day, a mass brawl broke out at Esther Payne Smith Secondary in uMgungundlovu, where learners armed with weapons left two pupils injured. Both required hospitalisation.

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Education, Sipho Hlomuka, condemned the attacks: “We wish the injured a speedy recovery. Violence has no place in our schools or our communities.”

Parents: “We don’t expect to bury our children because of school”

The KwaZulu-Natal Parents’ Association says enough is enough. Chairperson Vee Gani expressed what many families are feeling: “Sending your child to school should never feel like sending them into danger. The use of weapons by children is not bullying, it’s attempted murder.”

Parents across social media echoed the same fears, with one mother writing on Facebook: “We fear the phone call more than anything, the one saying your child has been hurt at school. This is not normal.”

Gani has called for the removal of violent learners from school environments: “Any child who poses a threat must be removed. We must take a bold and decisive stand.”

Teachers under siege too

Teachers are not spared from the fallout. Thirona Moodley, provincial CEO of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA), said the recent spate of violence is not new, it’s just finally visible.

“Videos going viral on social media have made people aware, but the truth is, violence has been happening in schools for years. Learners stab each other, mobs cheer them on, and even principals have been attacked. Teachers and learners’ lives are at stake.”

Moodley warned that social media is fuelling the problem, turning fights into spectacles for online audiences: “The attention encourages more violence. If this continues, it will spiral beyond our control.”

NAPTOSA is urging schools to partner with law enforcement, conduct random weapon searches, and bring in SAPS to speak at assemblies. The message, Moodley insists, must be clear: violence equals arrest, and possibly prison.

Beyond stabbings: vandalism and chaos

The violence isn’t only physical. At Mzwamandla High School in uMlazi, learners were arrested after vandalising school property, with videos of the destruction spreading across social media. MEC Hlomuka condemned the chaos, saying such behaviour undermines the future of education itself.

A bigger question: who is responsible for discipline?

These incidents point to a troubling reality: schools alone cannot tackle the crisis. Parents, teachers, unions, and government all agree that stronger, more coordinated action is needed, whether it’s stricter discipline policies, law enforcement support, or broader community involvement.

As one teacher put it anonymously on Twitter: “We can’t teach while fearing knives in our classrooms. Parents must parent, and government must act. Teachers cannot do this alone.”

KwaZulu-Natal’s school violence has forced the province into a reckoning. At stake is more than the safety of children, it’s the credibility of education itself. Parents want answers, teachers want protection, and learners deserve classrooms free of fear.

For now, communities across the province wait to see whether government promises will translate into real change.

Until then, every morning school run comes with a silent prayer.

{Source: IOL}

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