Manage student behaviour

SCHOOL fights may become a norm if there is no proper enforcement of behaviour policy in schools.
In the past, the groups of students involved were usually smaller, only girls or boys were in the group and mobile phones were absent.
Recently, the recent crowd has been much larger, mostly boys, and some girls were in the crowd; and students had mobile phones.
Whatever the reasons, the fights caused by aggrieved persons who are not happy over something that is not right according to their reasoning based on their judgment to warrant such dangerous behaviour can be harmful and life-threatening.
That clearly demonstrates a fundamental cause that the common order of addressing grief has failed or is not in existence therefore – almost everyone is now taking the law into their own hands.
One cause of school fights has been attributed to the cult system that has now gone down to primary school students, affecting many lives and bringing all sorts of disturbances and problems to the peaceful communities.
Amicable and long-term preventive measures are needed to fully eliminate the ongoing battles between schools or within a school.
The blame goes to the parents and school administrators who have failed overtime to teach and counsel the children.
But, before that, it is every parent’s responsibility to provide direction and discipline their sons/daughters at home to respect each other and property.
This will reflect outside in schools or work in interacting with other people.
Parents must look after and manage their child well as they are the number one teachers.
In today’s norm, most parents tend to push this responsibility to teachers, which is not right because teachers are there to educate them daily.
Parents who do not look after their child properly will have a troublesome child.
It is not a good sign when we see primary school kids smoking, chewing betel nut and taking alcohol.
Many parents don’t care about what their kids are doing.
Maybe we should jail parents whose under aged kids are doing that.
The parents whose children walk to school should take the responsibility of conducting their own investigation and find out if their children are really in school.
You see them leave the house, but are you sure they made it to school?
For some of these children, one can easily see the no-care attitude in their movement and, especially, in Port Moresby, attending a school in Gerehu and yet laughing and taking their good old time at a busstop in Boroko around 7.30am.
In today’s society, applying tough penalties on students in some schools has seen more complications.
Students and parents are retaliating against teachers.
And corporal punishment will not work.
Tactics that were applied in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s will not work in 2017 because society and attitudes have changed.
Corrective measures starts at home, but what we are experiencing doesn’t speak much about it.
Existing laws need to be re-visited.
Any student found to be guilty of involving in school fights or cult practices must be sent directly without bail to jail.
They must be treated as criminals!
Tougher penalties should be applied to schools.
Maybe it is time to start arresting students and hauling them to court just like any other law-breaker.
Harsh as it may sound, let the law deal with rogue behaviour appropriately.
They have chosen to ignore lawful instructions and advice and must be prepared to face the consequences. Period.