Schools grapple with rising indiscipline
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Wednesday August 20, 2025 06:00
“Mr Speaker, we condemn in the strongest possible terms bullying, vandalism, violence, drug abuse and all forms of misconduct,” he declared.
Hunyepa warned that unruly learners had gone as far as circulating shocking videos on social media, ruthlessly beating others and hurling vulgarities.
“Ba bua ditlhapa tse di tlhabisang batsadi ba bone le setshaba ditlhong.”
Although cases are still a drop in the ocean, the Assistant Minister revealed that from an enrollment of over half a million learners, 2,088 indiscipline cases were recorded in 2024, whilst 1,958 have already been logged this year.
However, he said balance rights of learners must be upheld, but responsibilities cannot be ignored. Meanwhile, he turned fire on parents.
“Parenting is the first line of discipline. The home is the first school. Parents are the first teachers,” he said firmly, bemoaning that weakening parental roles were feeding chaos in classrooms.
He, however, cited research linking poor parental monitoring to aggression, alcohol use and antisocial behaviour amongst teenagers.
At the same time, Hunyepa pointed to a troubling paradox, public schools record more serious indiscipline cases than private ones. This, he said, raises questions about parental involvement, resources, and cultural expectations.
Furthermore, he said drug abuse, too, looms large, warning that substances erode judgment, fuel aggression, and drive learners into violence, vulgarity, absenteeism and poor performance.
He, therefore, asked Members of Parliament (MP) and the public to join hands, and further revealing that this is not a battle for government alone.
Discipline, he said, “starts at home, is reinforced at school, and is sustained by the community”. Parents, teachers, unions, dikgosi, councillors, churches, civic groups, counsellors, and MPs were all called to pull in one direction.
The Ministry, he revealed, is scaling up counselling services, youth clubs, and school leadership programmes.
He said sport and cultural activities would also be expanded to curb idleness, while multi-ministry collaboration continues. Historically, he reminded MPs, indiscipline is not new.
“Even in the days of corporal punishment, bullying rituals and violence scarred students and teachers alike,” Hunyepa continued.
What has changed today, he said, is visibility, social media now exposes every ugly incident instantly. As for criminal cases, he said there are being referred to police and social workers.
He also revealed that at the same time, a new National Indiscipline Response Framework is in the pipeline, alongside leadership training, life-skills education, and kgotla-level community dialogues. However, majority of MPs asked the ministry to engage parents, teachers on the issue of stopping corporal punishment as it had made things worse in schools.