Durban — The KwaZulu-Natal education department has appealed to parents and school governing bodies not to hesitate to report illegal operations at schools to police.
The department was reacting to a Daily News story about a girl pupil who was hospitalised after a drug overdose. The pupil from a Merebank school, south of Durban, is alleged to have fallen ill at the school and was rushed to Wentworth Hospital where she was found to have overdosed on drugs.
Angered by this, parents appealed for an intervention by the department. However, department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said parents did not need the department’s permission to act on criminal activities at schools. He urged parents to contact police immediately and ask them to raid schools, without waiting for the department.
“There is no law that says anyone with information about criminal activities taking place in our schools should seek permission from us before contacting police. So we urge parents to ensure that our schools are crime-free and must alert police immediately about anything criminal taking place in the schools,” said Mahlambi.
The school and the pupil cannot be named, in order to protect the child. Her father and school governing body members had accused the principal of sweeping drug-related issues under the carpet, which they said made them suspect that he was working with drug lords who are feeding kids drugs. The governing body said the principal had not reported the incident.
The child’s father said the school told him that the child was hungry, but upon examination by doctors it was discovered that she had overdosed on drugs. He said the child had confessed to him that she acquired the drugs at school.
“I thought the school would be interested to know where she got drugs, but the principal said he would handle the matter himself,” said the parent.
A governing body member told the Daily News that her child had informed her that the principal was now searching pupils instead of calling the police. She said her child told her a drug called Xanax was allegedly sold on the school premises for R1 a tablet.
Xanax (alprazolam) is a prescription tablet for generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder.
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