BULLYING is, unfortunately, a fact of life and a reality that not many can declare with conviction to have avoided on their passage to adulthood.

Time and again the world, or at least some otherwise obscure community on Earth, is shocked by the extent to which serious tragedy can be visited on the individual, the family and/or a community.

We published such a heart-wrenching article yesterday which illustrated the tragic consequences of excessive bullying in a school playground.

Today, a family is mourning the loss of a son shot dead in a classroom. Eighteen-year-old Nkululeko Ndlovu was gunned down by a fellow pupil he and his friends are alleged to have terrorised.

The alleged shooter has since been arrested. We welcome that and can at best hope that the law will take its course.

But the question remains that as parents, teachers and the community at large, are we doing enough to equip our children with the tools they need to cope with the demands life burdens them with today?

We welcome the news that the Gauteng department of education will provide counselling for all concerned in the Vosloorus, East Rand, school.

Without casting any aspersions on the adults involved in this whole tragedy, parents need to re-examine the roles they play in the upbringing of their children.

Many parents often abdicate such responsibility to school authorities, who have - given the regular incidences of such tragedies in schools - obviously struggled to cope.

The near lawlessness at some of our schools, as borne out by another story we are running today of a teacher needing to be hospitalised after a vicious assault by a pupil, cannot be allowed to fester unattended.

However, as long as parents neglect their duties towards their children, the battle is as good as half lost.

One aspect that came to the fore in the Phineas Xulu Secondary School shooting was the ease with which children and, by the same token, unscrupulous elements in society gain access to firearms.

The pupil who reportedly shot the other allegedly used his mother's police-issue service pistol to get even with his tormentor.

As a law enforcement officer, the alleged shooter's mother should have known better to store the weapon in a safe and secure place.

There has been no mention of any action being taken by her superiors over her criminally negligent conduct that has now shattered two families and left a traumatised schooling community in its wake.