The Importance Of Equality In Schools

2.2 Freedom and security of learners and educators

Everyone has the right to freedom and security and the right to bodily and psychological integrity (1996:sec.12(2)). According to Joubert and Prinsloo (2008:108) this includes the right not to be tor-tured in any way, not to be ill-treated or punished in a way that will violate your rights and punished in a way that will make a person to be treated in a disrespectful way. Punishment can be really harm-ful and it can degrade a person in a way that it can lead to psychological harm and emotional break-down (SACE, 1998)

2.3 Learners right to privacy

Everyone has the right to privacy and the right not to have their property searched (1996:sec.14(b)). The strategies that the schools uses

Equality in schools means avoiding discrimination and promoting equality opportunities in a classroom and a school as a whole in order to improve the attainment and progress of all learners, regardless of their background and circumstances. Equality can be achieved by raising awareness of diversity and how to combat discrimination in schools, by so doing we will be preparing our young people to become good citizens, and to appreciate the difference in the society they live in. Teachers and learners must have equal access to all the activities that are taking place in the school setting and must both receive equal re-spect because the functioning of the school depends on the mutual respect between teacher and learners and teachers and parents. A school must not disadvantage learners and teachers in such a way that it discriminates or practices unfairness. A school must not harass or victimize the learner. According to the Bill of rights (108 of 1996:sec.9 (1)) everyone is equal before the law. The right to equality comes with following responsibilities: everyone must be treated fairly and equally, and do not discriminate unfairly against anyone on the basis of status, race, gender, nationality, disability, lan-guage, culture and ethnicity. Subsection 9(2) supports the rights with

When a teacher is teaching religion education she must ensure that the learner demonstrate an understand-ing of and commitment to constitutional rights and responsibilities, and for the learners to show an understanding of different cultures and religions. When learners have diverse knowledge about reli-gions, it makes it easy for them to combat discriminatory attitudes that will counter and prevent preju-dices. Research on learner misconduct has shown the positive effect on learner conduct of those schools who pray together on a regular basis and who constantly emphasise religious values (Bie-mond,