School Violence, an Obstacle to Quality Education

         
        According to ANJA NGWO Simon (2007:146), “If a student misbehaves, the teacher should accept the student and not his behaviour.” But the reality in schools proves that learners are somehow rejected because of their errors. This automatically affects their education, just like their misconduct also constitutes an obstacle to their mates’ education. Violence being one of the most frequent misbehaviours, it goes without saying that it is a hindrance to quality education. This article is aimed at bringing out some of the obstacles to quality education due to violence in the school milieu.

         The quality of our society depends on the quality of education we give to our youths. BANFEGHA NGALIM Valentine (2014:18) points it out clearly when he says that “We define our society and the society of our future by how and why we educate our young.” This definitely concerns all the youths for whom the policy of education is defined. Consequently, once a single learner is excluded in one way or the other for one reason or the other, it affects the individual in particular and the whole society in general. This implies that when a learner is discriminated upon because of his violent behaviour, it renders his complete and quality education if not impossible, at least very difficult. It also jeopardises the future of our society.

         One of the main purposes of education is to make learners succeed in life. “Schools exist to help children succeed”, says YONGHO N. Nichodemus (2008:96). But violence from a learner can stop this mission. Students accused of violence often appear before the school disciplinary council and the decision taken by the council to sanction the misconduct is often a temporal dismissal whose duration ranges from one to eight days depending on the level of violence perpetrated by the accused. At times, a student can even be dismissed for good because of violence. It is obvious that those dismissals due to violence constitute serious obstacles to quality education.

         In addition, some injuries sustained in violent situations in schools have led to minor or major incapacities. A student who is disabled as a result of violence definitely loses a lot as far as acquiring education is concerned.

         Moreover, it has been established that although violence from learners against educators is not very much talked about, it is a reality in schools. A teacher who has been violently disrespected by a student can hardly tolerate the latter in his class. Some teachers go as far as excluding continuously from their classes students whom they feel have been violent against them. When the school rules prevent a teacher from singlehandedly dismissing a supposedly violent student, the educator always figure out a way to discriminate against the latter. BAME NSAMENANG’s assertion that “The teacher teaches in a manner that respects the dignity and rights of all persons without prejudice” (2008:85) then becomes unrealistic as that “legitimate” discrimination by the victim teacher is a serious prejudice to a learner’s education.

         More so, there have been cases where serious verbal violence, bullying and other forms of aggressions have pushed some weak students to stay away from school. Those losses due to violence are obstacles to quality education.   

         It is worth mentioning that violence from a student does not affect only his education, but it also constitutes an obstacle to his mates’ education. As a matter of fact, when a school becomes a violent environment, it creates fear that hinders learning in one way or the other. It is therefore an obstacle to quality education. Also, there have been cases where a teacher refuses to set foot in a class because of a violent behaviour he suffered from a student of that class.

         In a nutshell, the negative impacts of school violence on the quality of education are many. Among other things, being dismissed due to violence, staying away from school by fear of violence, being discriminated against as a result of violence, being disabled because of violence are serious obstacles to quality education. 

Works cited:

ANJA NGWO Simon (2007), Management, Teaching Practice and Principles Made Simple, Bamenda, Patron Publishing House

BAME NSAMENANG (2008), Professionalism and Ethics, a Generative Curriculum, Bamenda, HDCR Publications

BANFEGHA NGALIM Valentine (2014) Critical Thinking in Education, Bamenda, Destiny Prints   

YONGHO N. Nichodemus (2007), Introduction to Philosophy of Education, Bamenda, Anoh’s Printing Service

FOKOU Leonard