Tackling violence in schools

THE EDITOR: Social media and the news media have been discussing the most recent school violence at the Moruga Secondary School.

I noticed that the MP for the area, Michelle Benjamin, is being reported as calling for the government to issue immediate and decisive action. I’m not sure if she is speaking about the specific issue or the wider issue of violence in schools.

However, as the MP is an election candidate I am assuming she meant this and possibly other incidents in Moruga.

I was forced to think about the government’s role in this and both the actions it could take to discipline students in the hope of discouraging further incidents and what can be done to prevent these things happening beforehand.

The Ministry of Education has a clear disciplinary process that covers most, if not all, violations and all disciplinary actions all the way to expulsion. That leaves two questions in my mind: What happens to the expelled students? And what is in place to deal with these students before they get to the stage of disciplinary action?

To answer the first question, I did some searching online and saw that expelled students are to be enrolled in the government’s Milat programme, which I agree is a good thing to bring them back to a disciplined environment while also focusing on both service and training.

The second question is a little harder to answer. It’s clear that while the ministry does have support services for medical, academic and behavioural issues that would contribute to students acting out in school, there is still more that can be done.

Remedial classes, laptops, etc are being provided for the students and there are student support staff for them, but it is in this last area that I think more support can be given.

There is a debate about the pros and cons of corporal punishment and the effect of its removal from schools. I think “licks” in school had a place, especially for male students, but I think the bigger issue here is actually the other side of that – having someone who can identify a larger social or behavioural issue and help the student and their parents to identify it, understand it, and provide the tools to address it.

The problem is that this requires people who are qualified and experienced to do that. That requires money to bring them into the system and to keep them in the system. I know that money is a problem that keeps the finance minister very busy, but I think this would be money very well spent with a national profit as the benefit.

The next issue in this entire situation is who else has a responsibility here, and on that point I wonder what the MP has done to improve the situation herself? Outside of the typical political response, I didn’t see anything that shows what she has done as a representative for that area.

The Prime Minister, the minister of education, and other ministers have said constantly that this is a whole-of-society issue that requires a whole-of-society response. So while there is room for improvement from the government, there needs to be support for the programmes that are actually in place and that can benefit all schools.

I distinctly remember the way the opposition ridiculed the ministry’s Adopt-A-School programme, despite it being widely congratulated by corporate TT. Crime and our children’s future are two things that require the opposition to step over the fence and give support to the government in its actions, words and behaviour.

Lastly, it is high time that we hold parents responsible for the behaviour of their children. It is not enough to make excuses for bad behaviour by blaming everyone but the parents. Fathers and mothers need to be involved in the schools that their children go to and need to instil discipline and respect in their children from day one.

Children do what they learn and if they are shown that violence and disrespect are acceptable behaviours, then they enter school with that as a norm for them. For that to stop, we need to start making the parents accountable. Maybe then they will ensure that the government, the teachers or the police don’t have to do their job.

Parenting isn’t easy, especially now, but it’s the job you sign up for when you bring a child into this world.

DANIEL P WILLIAM

Diego Martin