Johannesburg - The recent deaths of pupils in schools or under the care of teachers have once again highlighted the dangers learners face in environments in which they're supposed to be safe.
As many South African parents and their children excitedly marked the first day of school last week with pictures plastered all over social media, an Eldorado Park family was mourning the death of their son who died a few hours into the start of the 2020 academic year.
Keamohetswe Seboko's naked, lifeless body was discovered at the bottom of a swimming pool at Laerskool Bekker Primary in Magaliesburg on Wednesday.
His mother Lucia Seboko did not believe it was a drowning, saying Keamohetswe had a cut besides his lip on the right cheek, a cut across the neck at the back and also on top of the head.
"This is not a drowning, I suspect somebody must have pinned him down," said a distraught Seboko.
Keamohetswe Shaun Seboko
Then on Friday, the body of Parktown Boys pupil Enoch Mpianzi was found in the Crocodile River in the North West. This was after he had been reported missing during a Grade 8 orientation camp at the Nyati Bush and River Breakaway after a homemade raft he and fellow pupils were overturned in a strongly flowing river.
He was not wearing a life jacket and allegations are that his parents “couldn't afford” to buy the one that was recommended by the school.
However, Reamohetswe and Enoch are not the only ones who lost their lives at school.
Enoch Mpianzi
On February 1 last year, four pupils at Hoërskool Driehoek in Vanderbijlpark were killed and 23 injured when a walkway connecting the admin block to classes collapsed at the Vaal school.
A few months later on May 21,a 16-year-old Limpopo pupil was stabbed to death by another learner at school.
David Methape, 16, a grade 8 pupil at Robert Machaka Mamabolo Secondary School in GaMamabolo village outside Polokwane, was stabbed in the chest after allegedly refusing to give his attacker, 15, a cap and cash belonging to his friend.
On July 15 a 10-year-old boy died after a gum-tree branch fell on him at the Lusikisiki Village Junior Secondary School in the Eastern Cape. Asenathi Gani was airlifted to hospital but later died from head injuries. The other pupil's badly injured middle finger had to be amputated.
Another death at school occurred on August 1 when a Port Elizabeth primary school pupil Luhavan Potgieter died in a freak accident at school. Allegations are that the 8-yer-old was playing with his friends on the school grounds at Astra Primary School inside concrete pipes when he was fatally injured.
The following month, on September 4, Nthando Mabasi drowned in a swimming pool during a physical education class at Mountain Rise Primary School in KwaZulu Natal. It's believed that the swimming instructor was giving lessons to a group of 10 pupils when Nthando was noticed underwater.