Tougher penalties for school fights

 FIGHTING among students is becoming a common occurrence in our two major cities – Lae and Port Moresby. 

The situation has reached a point where the threat of expulsion is no longer a viable and effective deterrent. Students simply do not care. 

A senior police officer in Lae has called for tougher penalties for students involved in school fights. 

Lae Metropolitan commander Iven Lakatani is at his wits end after the latest round of skirmishes between Bumayaong Secondary School and Lae Secondary School students in Eriku last Friday. 

According to Lakatani, the law is not empowered to dispense the kind of justice needed to curb this regularly occurring problem. 

“We (police) have done all we can but for some reasons the students keep on fighting,” Lakatani said. 

“There is nothing we can do about it.” 

It was only last month that police officers visited schools to advise students on the problematic generation cult system and other related vices such as the consumption of drugs like marijuana and alcohol especially homebrew. 

It seems the stern talking to has fallen on deaf years. 

The Morobe provincial government, the education board, schools and parents must come together to stamp out this behaviour. 

We are certain that the majority of students are not inclined or interested in fighting.

However there seems to be a pervading culture within schools (the student body) that compels students to clash violently with students from other schools. 

The instigators of these fights must be exposed and given the harshest penalty possible. 

There are some students in schools who are the proverbial “rotten apples” in the bunch and they act to influence their fellow students. 

Schools must keep closer watch on their pupils and know who among them are prone to violence and anti-social behaviour. 

Usually problem students reveal themselves sooner or later through their actions inside and outside of the school setting. 

Lakatani said his officers would continue to arrest wayward students because he had no choice as the fights were a risk to the community (people and property). 

The Lae police boss said he was currently imposing K100 bail fee for the release of students arrested for fighting and causing public disturbance, as a way of driving home the message that  spending a night or two in lock-up was not the only inconvenience a student would face. 

Their actions would also hurt their parents financially. 

Lakatani said an increase in the bail fee would certainly have an effect on students. 

But whether he can do that  is another matter, suffice to say increasing the financially penalty for the delinquents is a course of action being seriously considered. 

There needs to be a decisive measure taken by the police, the courts and the education department with schools and parents to put an end to school fights. 

Firstly, the students must be made to see that consequences of their actions are real. 

For that the law must be able to investigate, charge and jail offenders.

Some might say that putting students in jail is not the way to go but this would only be the final resort and for particularly serious offences. 

If a student is deemed to be an adult in the eyes of the law, then let that student be tried as one. 

Those students who are deemed not adults can then have a suitable punitive measure brought against them. 

Whatever the case, the students must learn that schools fights are damaging to their education, not to mention a danger to their safety and that of others. 

Offending students must be offered some way to be reformed and jail time might not be the answer. 

But it should be a stronger deterrent them mere expulsion. 

Schools need to be proactive in this area. 

Sports and other extra-curricular activities must be encouraged and supported by the school and parents. 

It is no longer enough to send a student to school and expect him or her to be satisfied with what the curriculum offers in terms of learning in the classroom, laboratory or library. There has to be more than that. 

Otherwise we will be raising a generation of people who will have scant disregard for the law and authority, and this country already has a good number of those.