Enter a war zone at your peril...

VIOLENCE: 'SAFE SCHOOLS' A PIPE-DREAM AS CASES INCREASE

- Masoka Dube

South Africa's schools are war zones. And the violence has been increasing over the past year, despite strenuous efforts by government to implement the "Safe Schools" protocol. Cops arrested five pupils and a parent this week after a troubling series of incidents at Tsakane Secondary School in Gauteng. These included bullying and intimidation of both teachers and pupils.

Parents need to "play an active role in instilling respect and accountability in their children. Threats or intimidation directed at the school or its employees will not be tolerated and will be dealt with through appropriate legal channels".

But incidents of violence at schools are becoming commonplace across the country.

A teenage boy, stabbed in the classroom in Daveyton last week, is currently fighting for his life in hospital.