Implications of school violence in South Africa on socially just education

Abstract

Day in and day out reports in different media platforms such as television, radio, newspaper and social media suggest that the scourge of violence has reached alarming unparalleled and unprecedented proportions. Violence in schools is characterized by behavior that is anti-social, uncivil and peace disturbing. The current investigation attempts to contribute towards the growing body of research on the implications of school violence on learners and socially just education. Violence seems to be a phenomenon that is increasingly disturbing in South African schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of violence on socially just education. This conceptual article is qualitative and constructivist and data have been gathered through both print and electronic materials that portray violence in schools and extant literature on school violence. The study deploys the theory of social justice as a lens that guided the investigation. Social justice theory promotes the principles of peace and justice and violence in schools erodes such principles.