Hon Speaker, our schools are indeed islands of hope for our people, especially the poorer communities. To that extent society has a particular responsibility for ensuring that it takes ownership of our schools.
We share in the concern of the hon member in relation to violence. Violence in any form, be it through the act of bullying or through the gangsterism that occurs in schools from time to time, is condemned.
Last week we indicated to this House that we would be having a Council of Education Ministers' meeting. In that meeting we would direct the MECs for education to ensure that when school governing body elections took place, the issue of bullying would be addressed and form part of the code of conduct. We can therefore report to this House that such a proposal was indeed made and accepted by all MECs for education.
In addition, Mr Speaker, in this financial year approximately 1 000 schools have been fenced.
We also have an extensive programme in collaboration with the SA Police Service, in terms of which the police adopt schools. This activity, which has existed for more than two years, will be formally launched by the Minister of Basic Education and the Minister of Police very soon. What the programme seeks to do is to ensure that every school is linked to a police station, and that there is a symbiotic relationship between the SA Police Service and our schools.
Finally, it is important that we encourage all governing bodies to establish subcommittees of safety and security. In that way they can ensure that there is close liaison between them and the community police forums, CPFs, as well as the SA Police Service, and that they deal with the issue of security in a constructive and structured way.
We urge our communities to take the responsibility of ensuring that we provide our learners with a conducive environment which is caring and which protects our learners. To that end, we believe that we should always recognise the importance of our schools as being areas where the wellbeing and safety of our learners are protected. I thank you, Mr Speaker. [Applause.]