ZANEC is saddened by the social media reports on the incident that happened at St. Paul’s Secondary School in Kabwe at which a 13 year old pupil was brutally beaten by known pupils at the same school. ZANEC would like to condemn this behavior by the learners who are responsible for this heinous act. As a human rights organization working in the education sector, we believe in the importance of child protection policies in our schools. It is the responsibility of all school managements to ensure that they implement child protection policies that promote the safety of children under their care.
It is therefore disheartening to learn that management at St Paul’s Secondary School have been slow in addressing issues of bulling at their school. It is for this reason that ZANEC would like to call upon the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of General Education to immediately intervene by way of providing leadership to the school in addressing the reported issue of bulling in order to secure the rights of all learners and avert the loss of life at the school.
Bulling, which is a school based form of gender based violence, must not be tolerated by either school managements or learners themselves. It is for this reason that ZANEC has been calling for the formulation of a legal framework which will help operationalize the National Child Protection Policy. ZANEC believes that such a legal framework will go a long way in rooting out bulling in schools which threatens the safety and psychosocial well-being of our leaners.
For/ZANEC
George Hamusunga
Find Us on Social Media
