The Department of Education has had its say on a report which revealed violence in NSW's public schools has almost doubled over a 12-month period, while the number of students caught with weapons has increased four-fold.
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The 2019 Serious Incident Reports stated that worryingly, violent incidents ballooned from 1281 in 2018 to 2146 in 2019, the most recent year reported.
The reports have detailed incidents relating to violence, drugs, students welfare, schoolyard safety and security at NSW public schools.
Almost half the 140 incidents reported in the Wollongong, Wollongong North, Lake Illawarra North and Lake Illawarra South principals networks related to violence.
A NSW Department of Education spokesperson said it had made the incident reports accessible to the public to improve transparency.
The spokesperson said every school day, teachers and students work and learn safely at over 2200 public schools in NSW.
"Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures show that schools are amongst the safest places in our community and people under 18 are three times safer inside the school gate than outside.
"Violence and anti-social behaviour are not tolerated in our schools and any student involved in violence, bringing a weapon to school, or who engages in criminal behaviour at school receive strong disciplinary action and their parents are notified.
"We work closely with NSW Police and parents to respond to incidents involving weapons.
"With a population of more than 800,000 students the overall number of violent incidents remains relatively small, and represents less than one incident per school per year across the entire state."
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
