The death of 16-year-old Siphosethu Jack at Kuyasa Senior Secondary School in Dimbaza is deeply disturbing.
He died in a classroom, a place that is supposed to be one of the safest places in a child’s life.
Siphosethu was allegedly stabbed by another pupil last week.
A teenage suspect has been arrested, and the matter is before the courts.
While the criminal-justice process takes its course, society cannot afford to treat this as just another tragic headline.
The most painful aspect of this story is that Siphosethu’s family had reportedly transferred him from another school because they hoped to protect him from violence.
Instead, the place where he should have been safest became the scene of his death.
That should trouble every parent, teacher, education official and community leader in the Eastern Cape.
We need to ask difficult questions. How do weapons find their way into schools?
Are existing searching and security measures working?
Are warning signs of conflict between pupils being identified early enough?
Surely the answer cannot simply be to search schoolbags after every tragedy and then move on.
Searching is important. Discipline is important. Visible security is important.
But prevention must go deeper.
One parent at Kuyasa said teachers needed to do something about the safety of their children, because they left them in their custody during the day with hope that they were safe.
On the other hand, the education department said violence was unlikely to stop unless there was sufficient visibility from the police and community crime forums.
They are both right, but speaking and acting in silos will not help solve the problem.
We need sustained violence-prevention programmes, stronger co-operation between schools and parents, effective reporting mechanisms, appropriate security measures and meaningful interventions when young people are repeatedly involved in violent behaviour.
There is also a broader community question that needs to be answered.
If children are growing up surrounded by violence, intimidation and easy access to weapons, schools cannot be expected to solve the problem alone.
Schools are part of communities. Dimbaza therefore needs more than expressions of shock.
It needs a serious conversation involving all stakeholders.
That conversation should produce practical commitments and measurable action.
Siphosethu’s family cannot get him back.
But his death must not become another statistic that fades from public attention until the next child is killed.
A school should be a place where a parent can say goodbye to a child in the morning with the reasonable expectation that the child will return home in the afternoon.
That expectation should be the most basic promise our education system and our communities make to every child.
