New policy on bullying, drugs on cards

Zim Now Writer

Government is working on a new policy on bullying, drugs a senior government official has said.

Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Edgar Moyo said the updated policy would be finalised by the end of April.

This comes as several incidents of fatal incidents involving students in learning institutions as well as possession of drugs and dangerous substances have been reported.

The Ministry says it has completed consultations on updating the policy to mitigate against bullying in schools and a code of conduct for learners following this spike in cases.

“My ministry has completed stakeholder consultations on the alignment of policy implementation circulars to the Education Amendment Act. This has resulted in the updating of circulars on bullying as well as the production of a standard code of conduct for all pupils across Zimbabwe.

“I am happy to confirm that all senior and middle managers as well as school leadership participated in the consultations and made their inputs into the updating of policy implementation circulars aimed at improving the quality of pupil safeguarding at all schools.

“Such documents are now at final editing stage and will be in schools by the end of April 2023. It is a fact that children need to be peaceful if they are to perform well in their school work,” Deputy Minister Moyo said.

The deputy minister’s statement comes following the deaths of two learners in Bulawayo where Wayne Ndlovu, 16, from Founders High School was stabbed by a Hamilton High School student after he intervened in a fight involving his friend.

A 15-year-old learner, Jayden Sauden, from Hamilton High School committed suicide after he also complained of being bullied.

In Harare, a 17-year-old student from Churu Farm in Glen View was also stabbed to death by another pupil of the same age following a misunderstanding over a stapler.

On drugs and substance abuse, the Deputy Minister said his ministry was part of an inter-ministerial technical working group that government set up to fight the scourge.

“This drug menace is being addressed from a curriculum perspective, where age appropriate information and life skills empowerment is covered through different learning areas. A referral protocol has been developed for the management of identified cases of pupils at risk of various social ills.

"Admittedly, this is a very serious matter which requires more parental involvement than routine school matters.

"The same applies to bullying as much as the activities that occur away from school and require more community involvement to complement the effort of the education sector.”