The Family Violence and Child Protection Unit of the police have confirmed that a case of sexual assault involving minor learners is under investigation at Grey Junior in Port Elizabeth.
This follows an incident earlier this week when a learner was injured in a classroom incident for which he had to receive medical treatment.
The Eastern Cape Education Department said on Thursday it had experts and programme in place to address a myriad of social issues that currently find expression in schools across the province.
Department spokesperson, Mali Mtima, said these include acts of violence, bullying, sexual assault, protests, as well as incidents of faction fighting.
He said the Department's School Enrichment Programme deals with social issues in schools.
"We train learners to become members of peace clubs, that they do away with violence and encapsulate among their peers the issue of respecting the rule of law and doing what's best while they are still young."
"We are making a clarion call to the parents to say please assist us because the Department we are trying every trick in the book to teach our learners about the adverse impact of bullying, violence and so on. But we want it to be a partnership between us and the parents because we cannot win the battle alone" adds Mtima.
Meanwhile, the CEO of education NGO, InMate Project, Nosiphiwe Manona, said part of the problem is that many parents are not active in their children's early development.
"Schools need active community involvement.
"Where there is no active parent involved there should be a community member that takes over," she said.
