Violence in School Again

Disturbing information of the stabbing by a student of the Discipline Master of Government Bilingual High School (Lycée Bilingue) Cité Verte in the heart of Yaounde on Wednesday 12 March 2014, sounded like another knife in the back of parenthood in the country..

Several such violent scenes have been recorded in the past in schools across the country and each time, the condemnation has been general. Curiously, the recurrent nature of the problem and the apparent attempts by school officials to conceal them from public attention by keeping the media out of such crudities creates a sense of unacceptable complicity by school officials. It even smacks of some level of guilt being portrayed by school officials who are embarrassed by uncouth behaviour within their school premises which they ought to stem.

It is understandable that Malcolm X, in qualifying the power of the media, once said, "They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power, because they control the minds of the masses." Yet, no one can justify the fact that school officials under whose care parents confide children for academic guidance should seek to mask suspected criminals, albeit minors from the public.

Looking at the issue at the root of the Cité Verte stabbing, reports said the student was chided for poor dressing and the Discipline Master in question was simply doing his job by wanting to ensure that the dress code in school is respected by all. For the student to have reacted with such violence poses questions about parental responsibility as well.

How could parents accept that their child should go to school poorly dressed? Were the parents aware of such dressing, in the first place? Could the school officials be hiding the student because they never wanted to expose the identity of highly placed parents who failed in their responsibilities? The questions could go on and on, but the presence of dangerous objects in the hands of students in school calls for accrued vigilance on the part of parents and teachers.

Unfortunately, like the school officials who tried to keep the incident secret, there are parents who not only take responsibility for the growing waywardness that children fall prey to, but put up spirited defence to justify the way the children went wrong. Parents should have the guts to denounce even their own kids who adopt deviant attitudes. Needless saying it is short-sightedness to defend abnormal behaviour because sooner, or later, such children will turn on their own parents.

Parents at times act as if they lack words to question their offspring who indulge in exhibitionism or come home with gadgets that are unaccounted for. The presence of modern trends and Information and Communication Technology (ITC) has not always been a welcome happening, especially within our African society known for high moral values. Some children are often too tender to understand or discern the information flux that comes with the ITCs.

Consequently, those being called to handle the daily upbringing of students in schools or elsewhere must know that the task at hand is daunting enough to require more than just administrative savvy. The situation may appear even more complex in a city like Yaounde and society where children erroneously take the positions that their parents occupy as the yardstick for their behaviour and want to let that influence the relationships they share with their peers or teachers. The situation becomes even vexing when parents go full length to intimidate teachers and school officials to ensure that children snob school rules and regulations.

The case reported at Lycée Bilingue Cité Verte was certainly just one out of many. Such violence last academic year let to the death of a student in the hands of another in Sasse College in the South West Regional capital, Buea. Such ugly incidents have often been reported across the country with the consequence that they cast doubts and disrepute on the trajectory that the youth are taking.

It may never be too much crying out loud against any form of violence within the school milieu, given that it is supposed to be the place par excellence for exemplary conduct, both from students and staff.