A grade 11 pupil from Lesedi Secondary School in Lethabong, an informal settlement in Donkerhoek, Pretoria East, was fatally stabbed by a grade 12 boy on Tuesday, the Gauteng education department said.

The culprit had bunked school that day and arrived at the premises just as pupils were boarding their scholar transport vehicles. He accosted the victim just outside the school yard.

Education MEC Matome Chiloane said: “The Gauteng department of education has dispatched a team of psychologists and our school safety unit to the school to provide trauma counselling to affected learners and educators, while strengthening safety interventions at the school.

“Law enforcement authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident.”

Chiloane said schools should be spaces of learning, safety and hope, not breeding grounds for brutality and violence.

“Learners must understand violence has life-altering consequences. Such actions will not only remove you from the classroom but may place you behind bars.”