In just one month, four schoolgirls in Nelson Mandela Bay have been brutally murdered — their young lives Cut short in acts of unspeakable violence, some of them raped, their bodies mutilated and
burned. These aren't isolated incidents — they are part of a chilling pattern that reveals just how vulnerable our children are, both in and beyond the school gates. Authorities now warn: our schools do not operate in a vacuum. As the Eastern Cape Department of Education puts it, this is a crisis that can only be tackled through collaboration between schools, police, parents, and communities. Who is failing our children? What must change? And how do we make our schools — and streets — safe again?