Across language and province, South Africans share one simple desire - to know that their children are safe and learning when they walk through the school gate. In a country often divided by politics, that belief in order and discipline remains a rare point of unity.

The Social Research Foundation finds that 85% of South Africans “strongly agree” that discipline in schools must be strictly enforced so that teachers can teach and pupils can learn. Support for this view barely changes between income groups or regions, showing that there is strong shared consensus on this in South Africa.

Parents do not differ on what they expect from a good school. They want rules that are clear and fairly applied, teachers who are supported rather than undermined, and children who learn respect alongside reading. In communities where poverty and crime weigh heavily, the classroom often stands as the last dependable place of order, the space where a child can still imagine a better future.

This is why performative battles over identity inside schools are so corrosive. For example, the Gauteng Department of Education has repeatedly pursued headline-grabbing racism witch hunts that inflame tensions while doing little to assist pupils or support teachers.

The effect is to politicise the school day, sap staff morale, and distract from the basics of teaching. Families want fair rules and real consequences for real misconduct, not theatrical crusades that turn classrooms into stages for press conferences.