By Monique Duval
Cape Town – A Grade 9 learner from Bishop Lavis was hospitalised on Wednesday after being stabbed in the head during a school yard brawl at John Ramsay High School.
The angry father of the 16-year-old boy says he is lucky to be alive after the knife penetrated his skull and left him with blood streaming down his face.
The boy, who asked not to be named, says he was attacked by four boys, two who are pupils at the school and two drop-outs who jumped over the school fence.
“It started over a fight between two girls here in Lavis in December,” he explains.
“I broke up the fight because my friend was on top of the girl.
“The girl on the floor then got up and tried to pull my chain off my neck and I lifted my arm and she got hit.
“I apologised to her and her boyfriend and everything was over but when the school opened, her cousin who is in Grade 11 came and attacked me with another one of his friends at the school.
“Two others jumped over the fence. I don’t know who stabbed me.”
The boy’s father, who is a caretaker at the school, says he got a fright when he saw his bleeding child and is demanding answers.
“The doctor said he is fine but we have to go back on Friday. This school is very unsafe and every day suspects (gangsters) jump over the fence with knives and guns and rob the laaities (children).
“I am very upset because the boy who started this is back at school today.”
Western Cape Education Department (WCED) spokesperson, Bronagh Hammond, says the incident happened during second interval.
“Three males had jumped the school fence. The learner was taken to a day hospital and received medical treatment.
“The incident was reported to SAPS and charges have allegedly been made.
“It is a sad reminder that activities outside of school can sometimes spill over onto the school environment,” she says. Daily Voice
