Lobby group Equal Education said their researchers visited 40 public schools in areas like Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Manenberg, and Mitchells Plain and found that stabbings, physical fights, and sexual harassment were prevalent at most of these schools.

Picture: Reinart Toerien/Eyewitness News

CAPE TOWN - Lobby group Equal Education said a survey it had done showed that gang violence, alcohol and drug use were major contributing factors to learners' safety at schools in Cape Town.

The lobby group on Tuesday briefed the Provincial Standing Committee on Education on its findings and recommendations of a 2019 study on school safety across Cape Town.

The NGO said their researchers visited 40 public schools in areas like Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Manenberg, and Mitchells Plain.

They found that stabbings, physical fights, and sexual harassment were prevalent at most of these schools.

The lobby group said although the study was done six years ago, the challenges were still the same, if not worse today.

Equal Education's Stacey Jacobs said the environment surrounding these schools also contributed to some of the concerning trends.

"We found out that drug use was prevalent at 85% of the schools we visited, alcohol abuse at more than half of the schools, as well as burglary at more than half of the schools. Significant vandalism was considered a significant threat at half of the schools, gang violence was a major threat to learners' safety at 53% of the schools."