Time to find an effective solution

 SCHOOL fights should not be accepted as a norm and that was the title of a commentary by a senior research fellow at the National Research Institute Dr Patricia Paraide in March. 

And it seems the introduction of every school year, from recent observations, also signals the onset of school fights. 

This may, if not brought under tight reign and soon, become a norm.

It behooves all school boards and management to ensure there are proper behavior policies in place and that they are rigorously  and consistently enforced.

Paraide made a rather telling comparison between the school fights of today and those of yester-years.

In the past, the groups of students involved were usually smaller, only girls or boys were in the group and mobile phones were absent.

Today’s school fights involve larger boys and girls.

They are more in the crowd and communicate via mobile phones to set up ambushes or seek assistance and even weapons.

Fights occur for many reasons but almost always it involves an aggrieved party.

Fights are occurring therefore because there are no avenues for resolving grievances today or that whatever conflict resolution mechanisms that are in place are insufficient or are failing.

The police are of little help. 

If the constabulary was more effective, functional students would not get involved in fights as they would fear retribution.

School fights are also the symptom of a corrupt and weak state.

But first let us see what the National Department of Education is doing about this persistent problem?

The department, through the schools, aims to prepare  young people to be literate, skilled and healthy citizens, and at the same time develop each individual’s personal viability and character to ensure they are able to contribute to the peace and prosperity of our nation.

If that is its role then somewhere along the track the department has gone off track since violent students can hardly be said to be model future citizens, now or in the future. 

Another important cause of school fights that is well publicised but hardly acted upon is the schools cult systems.

Why schools boards and management seem to turn a blind eye on cult practices beggars explanation.

School fights also reflect on parenting. 

Education starts at home.

Home is the basic building block of the future adult’s character traits. 

A violent student can only mean violence is condoned at home.

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’s a logical explanation to the high crime rate. 

Existing laws need to be re-visited. 

Any student found to be guilty of involving in any school fights or cult practices should be sent to jail. Bail should not be an option. 

They must be treated as criminals!

Tougher penalties should be applied to schools too. 

It is not a good sign when we see primary school kids smoking, chewing betel nut and drinking alcohol. 

Many parents could not care less what their kids are doing. 

Maybe parents, whose under aged kids are doing that, should face some sort of punishment. 

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 have made it to school? 

For some of these children, one can easily see the no-care attitude in their body language.

This is pretty obvious  by some students in Port Moresby attending a school in Gerehu.

They seem enjoying themselves, laughing and having fun,, and taking their time at a bus-stop in Boroko around 7.30am. 

In today’s society, applying tough penalties on students in some schools has seen more complications as a result.

Students and parents are complaining, protesting and even retaliating against teachers. And corporal punishment will not work. 

Tactics that were applied in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s will not work in 2013 because society and attitudes have changed.