Luzuko Pongoma

Luzuko Pongoma

Parents ought to take charge of their children, education bodies said in response to reports of a pornography crisis in South African schools.

Department of Education spokesman Panyaza Lesufi said his department had introduced life orientation in schools to educate children about sexual matters. He said there had seen success but there were things they could not fight against, such as cellphones, dvds and television.

"We cannot ban cellphones in schools. We can only control them. Parents must take over and teach children because the attitude of children to porn starts outside the school gates."

Kathy Callaghan, secretary of the Governors' Alliance, said that parents needed to explain to their children "in a clear-cut way and say why children are not supposed to view it".

She said it was not the duty of the parents only to fight porn.

"Teachers must not use school computers to download porn, the media must also not entice children with steamy covers on magazines and Internet providers should filter porn on websites."

She said schools should keep records of kids caught with pornography because that would assist in monitoring trends.

Dave Balt, president of the National Professional Teachers Organisation of SA, said pornography in schools was part of the moral decay that included violence and lack of discipline.

"We need to come together as parents, teachers and the Department of Education to find a solution to this immoral behaviour. It does not help to teach children about pornography at school and at home parents do not intervene," he said.

He said schools needed rigorous rules to control cellphones.