On Sunday President of The Bahamas Union of Teachers Kingsley Black attributed the escalation of school violence to a “breakdown” in society.
School authorities cannot fully resolve these and other issues, he said.
On Wednesday, fifteen-year-old Alando Williamson became the nation’s 13th murder victim last week when he was fatally stabbed by another student. Both boys were enrolled at the C.V. Bethel Senior High School. The Government High School was dismissed early last week, following two separate, non-fatal stabbing incidents. Acts of violence were also reported earlier this year at the R.M. Bailey Senior High School.
Mr Black told The Guardian Sunday that schools are not incubated from society and instead of focusing on what schools can do to curb violence, more emphasis should be placed on society. He said because crime is on the increase, it would most likely have found its way into the school system.
The BUT president demanded that the government “take the bull by the horns” and address the issues of violence head-on. He stressed that values must be instilled in school children and they must be taught respect toward persons and the value of property. Students, he said, must also be taught various conflict resolution strategies, rather than picking up a weapon to attack another person.
“We need a multifaceted approach to have an impact on the problem because we need to address the root cause of the problem which emanates from where the children live,” he said. “We are having problems with children who seem not to be able to settle their differences in an amicable fashion and rather than talk, they would rather pull a gun or a knife or a cutlass or have three or four persons gang one person and leave them maimed.”
Mr Black said that all “stakeholders” in education must address students and find a means to determine why so many conflicts are resolved with violence. He said education is everybody’s business and the pubic must dispel the notion that teachers are at fault if students are not being properly educated.
“If all of the stakeholders who have a role to play in the provision of quality education play their roles effectively, then there will be dynamic interaction between the stakeholders and we will take hold of the problems and resolve them through cooperative strategies, as opposed to shaming and blaming this group or the next group,” Mr Black suggested.
The BUT Chief concluded by stating that children need guidance and a strategic initiative is needed to reduce the level of violence in schools because it cannot be done overnight.
“We have to instil in children, the value for life and limb, the value for other people’s property and the importance of dialogue as opposed to competition, confrontation and fights,” he said.
By TAMARA McKENZIE, Nassau Guardian Staff Reporter
