Children in Prison in South Africa - Community Law Centre

Leeuwkop were extremely demotivated.Researchers were also told thatprisoners had a low level of literacyand were unfamiliar with the disciplineand routine of a school environment.,This, coupled with the lack of motivationand regular attendance of staff, madeit difficult to initiate children in alearning culture.from Grade 1 to matriculation every week day. However,researchers were told that teaching materials arelimited and outdated. At this facility, the authoritiesalso said that they help prisoners access tertiaryeducation by obtaining application forms, submittingassignments and so on. Assistance is sometimes'given by the Department of Education.At Pretoria Local, researchers were told that sevenjuveniles attend school four times a week. Althoughthere are two qualified teachers and six unqualifiedstaff, and five prisoners also assist with the teaching,there are no classrooms and lessons are taught individed corridors. Prisoners may also register forcorrespondence studies.There are libraries at many of the prisons, includingPollsmoor, Barberton and Thohoyandou where thereis one library in each of the four sections. Often booksare donated and some are provided by CorrectionalServices.Obstacles to delivering educationalprogrammesAt Leeuwkop, researchers were told that the schoolfailed to operate between November 1996 and March1997 because 'they were waiting for the new syllabusand text books' which the Gauteng EducationDepartment was supposed to have sent. When askedwhy they did not proceed, they were told that theprisoners had refused to attend school until the newmaterials had arrived. One teacher, however, saidthat the school had not been functioning since she: arrived in 1994 due to staff problems and failure toreport for work. As observed elsewhere, the staff atSometimes, researchers were told, 'no staff were available to take thechildren from their cells to school on aregular basis. At St Albans, where thechildren attend school with theadults, the authorities said there wasa problem finding staff to take the children to theschool. At Pollsmoor, where the school is reachedthrough the adult section, researchers were advisedthat, when the prison does not have enoughfunctional staff members to escort the children,they are not able to attend.At many prisons, it seems, there is a complete failure toprovide a regular daily school programme for the children.Some sense of the chaos surrounding educationprovision was obtained at Odi Prison. One child saidhe attends school three times a week. A second saidthat he had wanted to register but had been tofd to'wait until his name is called'. Another said he hadbeen informed that he had to buy his own books whichhe said his family could not afford. Two juveniles saidthey were not interested in attending school becausethey were serving such short sentences. Another boyhad tried to put his name down for arts and crafts butsaid that authorities 'hadn't taken his name'. A boysaid he wanted to visit the library, but reported that it .was always locked. The library was indeed locked onthe day of the visit.At Pollsmoor, researchers were told that school startsin January, and children could only attend if theyregistered at the beginning of the year. Programmesrun for only three hours a morning up to standard 6.There are also insufficient places at the school whichtakes only 150 children and juveniles. No programmesat all are provided at the Pollsmoor Admission Centreon the grounds that the children here are waitingplacement in other parts of the prison or other prisonsaltogether. It was noted, however, that chHdren at theAdmission Centre often wait from nine months to aEDUCATION AND TRAINING