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Dark reality of school boy violence

School boy hooliganism took on a new and dangerous dimension a few days back when some students of one boys' school physically attacked those of another in the latter's school premises, in the heart of Colombo.

What the public is likely to find most distressing in this incident is the organised nature of the attack and the intemperate violence which was displayed by those involved. It was a case of schoolboy gangs brazenly violating the law of the land and, indeed, taking the law into their own hands.

The crisis ended in the best way possible with delegations from both schools involved in the fierce free-for-all, Nalanda College Colombo and D.S. Senanayake Vidyalaya, making peace with each other and pledging to work towards reconciliation. Nevertheless, the disturbing development leaves behind a number of disquieting queries.

Schoolboy discipline, of course, has not been at its best over the past few years but would one have expected to witness gangland-type violence involving two reputed public schools ? Spontaneous, violent clashes among rival groups of the young, although difficult to condone, could be expected in some circumstances, but did one believe that organised schoolboy violence, where even the near sanctity of the premises of a school is wantonly violated, would very soon be possible ?

It is a measure of the brutalization of local society that the unthinkable even among schoolboys is today possible. In these dangerous developments is reflected the degree to which, discipline and law and order have dramatically crumbled in the wider society. We are faced here with an immensely complex crisis. It is a crisis which has numerous facets to it and it is not possible in a commentary of this kind to do justice to all of them.

It would be sufficient to recall that it is weak law enforcement and the gradual undermining of the Rule of Law over the decades which partly account for societal decline of the present proportions. The steady erosion of the Rule of Law, on the other hand, is the cumulative result of decades of gross misgovernance.

Schools and schoolchildren, being part of the same social milieu, couldn't be expected to shape up without reflecting its prime blemishes. If violence and coercive behaviour characterize social relations these could be expected to be reflected in our schools.

It doesn't follow from this analysis that schools and other pivotal social institutions could absolve themselves from blame for crumbling discipline and bad behaviour among their wards. An exacting but essential duty is cast on these institutions to constantly keep societal trends under review and take the necessary steps to stem and contain them. If this doesn't happen, schools and educational institutions would find it difficult to justify their existence. For, the principal function of schools is sound character formation. When school principals and teachers lose sight of this important aim, schools become superfluous and useless appendages of society.

The State has a role to play in putting schools back on this classical track by helping to build into school curricula, programs for sound character formation of students. It must also ensure that teachers are conscientized in this area of education by ensuring that they receive the relevant training and expertise.

Once these inputs are in place it is up to teachers; parents and elders to ensure that their children are conscientized in the right direction. If schoolchildren receive the correct ethical training it wouldn't be impossible to visualize a society which would be relatively peace-loving and humane.

However, such initiatives cannot be conducted in isolation from parents and homes. For, it could be pointed out that the child spends most of his time at home, among his parents and elders. Unless the latter cooperate with schools in enriching the ethical awareness of children, huge successes cannot be expected from efforts to give education a strong ethical orientation.

The schoolboy violence at Colombo 8, therefore, should be viewed as an eye-opener. There is an entire gamut of issues to be resolved in the area of ethical conduct among students and education, which needs to be resolved. The incident should spur all relevant parties into remedial action.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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