Abstract
After 30 years of South Africa's democratic system, it is crucial to hear the viewpoints of school leaders, particularly in townships where many challenges impact the preservation of learners' rights. One fundamental human right is education, an essential vehicle for enhancing people's long-term capacity; another is being educated in a safe environment – if these are fulfilled they can increase a country's economic prosperity. The goal of this research was to investigate how principals of public township schools view learner safety measures and educational rights in the context of their particular school within the transformational leadership framework. A qualitative research design was used to carry out the study using a single case study with five purposively selected South African township school principals who work in challenging school contexts.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the viewpoints of school principals and thematic analysis was used to analyse the information. In addition, the study drew on the theoretical concepts of transformational leadership and human rights-based education in the analysis. The findings revealed four major themes, including stakeholders’ protection of learners’ education and safety rights, challenges and difficulties school leaders encounter, leadership practices in public schools, and innovative leadership strategies to guarantee that the rights of learners are protected. The findings indicated that to protect learners' rights in township schools, it is essential to provide a safe and secure environment free from difficult aspects like staff shortages, resource constraints, outside influences, policy implementation, and violence, including gangsterism and bullying – all parties involved in education must acknowledge and uphold learners' rights to education and safety. The study highlights that common leadership practices such as transparency and accountability, inclusivity and proactive measures are essential for preserving learners’ rights in schools amid challenging issues including violence. The study recommends proactive and creative leadership strategies, such as regular workshops on safety issues that are important for all stakeholders, community engagement, technology integration and peer mediation programmes that are essential for protecting learners’ rights in schools.