Holistic Approach Urged to Address Violence in Schools: Expert Insights and Recent Incidents

Some unfortunate turn of events has again placed the spotlight on violence in schools. However, while that may be a hot topic, there is a need to frown upon and stamp out all forms of bad behaviour at every level in our society. The issue must be tackled from a holistic approach.

Professor Dwayne Devonish, lead on Management and Organisational Behaviour at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus explained why all hands must be on deck since all facets of our society feed into each other.

“You have children who are coming from communities, that are coming from families that have all been affected by crime and violence. If we view school as a microcosm of the wider society … society itself is being plagued with gang violence, poor conflict resolution, families that have been displaced, violence in the home, and lack of parental supervision.

“Those social ills will spill over. It can’t just be the school; our community interventions have to be broadened and we have to do a lot more work on parental education,” the professor said.

The onus is really on all of us, not only the Ministry of Education and teachers, to ensure that we lead by example as it relates to conduct. Violence starts with acts of misbehaviour and unruliness.

This week, we carried reports on two separate altercations involving secondary school students. The first, on Monday, occurred on the premises of the Barbados Licensing Authority and involved several students. Sadly, a 15-year-old boy was stabbed in the abdomen.

On Tuesday, another student was hit in the head as he tried to stop an apparent case of bullying. The two teachers’ unions and the parents’ group all condemned the behaviour and rightly so.

Paula Anne-Moore of the Group of Concerned Parents berated those parents who were failing their children: “We, parents, need to do our part, and too many of us do not live up to our parental responsibilities. But it is clear that many of us also genuinely need additional support in order to parent properly. Schools reflect our family, communities and society challenges.”

President of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Rudy Lovell pointed out that violence in schools creates an unsafe environment for everyone involved.

And Mary-Anne Redman of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) again lamented that there are acts of violence at the primary level as well: “What is even more saddening is that this indiscipline is also too often seen at the primary level. What we are doing is not sufficient, it is not successful. The violence in the wider society is being brought consistently into our school environments.”

The comments made by all are correct. We cannot look at violence in schools as an isolated problem. That is why news that the National Peace Programme was being heavily criticised, by someone who first called for it, is a cause for concern.

On Monday, MP for The City Corey Lane and Winston Iston Bull Branch, a former block leader who brokered a peace deal between gang leaders last year, were on the Down to Brass Tacks radio call-in programme when Branch accused Lane of failing to continue to interact with people. He claimed the peace programme was on the verge of collapse.

“I tell him every month-end let’s go to one of his areas and meet with the people . . . . You try to hold a meeting with the men who suppose to be gang leaders, so you trying to tell me that is wuh gine work? You got to come to the people. Yuh ain’t seeing nothing out of it because it going in the wrong direction,” Branch said.

There needs to be a joint effort that looks at deviant behaviour and violence throughout society. While there is merit in honing in on schools as institutions and communities, a twinning of efforts may bring commonalities to light and lead to more problem-solving which could better wrestle the issue to the ground.

We are a society made up of varying groups, whether we are secondary and primary school students, parents, teachers, boys on the block, senior citizens or politicians. We must band together and stamp out bad behaviour at every level.