The school is a place where friendships are forged, respect shown and earned and lessons of life learnt. The schoolyard may change, teachers may come and leave, and customs and hairstyles evolve but memories of school life linger forever.

In Mauritius, violence and indiscipline in secondary schools have become a real cause for concern. There is enough anecdotal evidence that we have serious problems of indiscipline and violence in schools. As a former director of the Mauritius Institute of Education and former officer-in-charge of the Private Secondary Schools Authority, I have come across many reported cases of violence.

Previously, indiscipline in schools encompassed unruly behaviour in class, truancy, theft, damaging school property, bullying, extortion, rowdiness, use and writing of foul language on desks and in the toilets, etc. Now, our youngsters have graduated to smoking, assaulting teachers, consuming alcohol and drugs, and gang fighting.

To monitor closely any form of violence, indiscipline or deviant behaviour, it is essential that schools have a code of ethics drafted after reaching consensus and accepted by all stakeholders. In France, each secondary school has a morality code or chart of good behaviour posted on the notice board, which all parents and students are invited to read. In one school I visited, the internal rule comprises: the rights and obligations of students, sanctions, practical rules, policy and functioning of the school, etc. and forms part of the school pack of every student. It must be signed by parents who are thus aware of the sanctions attached to breach of discipline.

In France, a protocol related to the prevention of violence in schools has been signed between the minister of Education, Francois Fillon, and other relevant ministries. The objective is to improve security inside and in the immediate school environment. In this protocol, a policeman/woman is responsible for an institution. It is also envisaged that heads of institutions, inspectors and high officers of the ministry as well as parents and union representatives meet at least twice a year to share information on misbehaviour, indiscipline and violence in schools to redefine objectives and modalities of cooperation. The aim is to “create the relations that help prevent situations of tension and violence”.

Need for sanctions

During my student days, most parents, when they checked their children into school, told the teacher not to spare the rod in case their sibling misbehaved as long as punishment did not maim or cripple. In those days, whenever we were punished, we would not dare report the matter to our parents for fear of added punishment.

In certain private secondary schools, there may not be many rules but, when these are breached, some punishment is immediately inflicted. The case of four Form 1V students, caught smoking in class and immediately dismissed by the rector on March 02, is a good example. I know other principals of private secondary schools who told me there is no compromise when it comes to discipline. This is a contributing factor in the making of the whole person as teachers are said to be diamond-cutters.

I know of a school in India where names of those who misbehave in class or on school premises are written on a special notice board called the “board of shame”. I consider this a good deterrent. Unfortunately, there is, in some good private and state secondary schools, supposed to be the beacons of education of Mauritius, a feeling of laissez-aller or laissez faire, which is one of the reasons for the breakdown of rules.

A recent survey on violence in schools in France, among a representative sample of parents, teachers, students and administrative staff, reveals that lack of parental authority, especially among the teenage group, is the major cause of violence and indiscipline in school. According to the survey, parents have called for more severe forms of sanctions against rule-breakers. To address the issue of violence and indiscipline in schools, three areas were privileged by the target groups: prevention, sanction and mediation.

The restriction of punishment at school is bound to be counter-productive. It is thus important to rethink the role of sanctions and set up a code of ethics to control and monitor behaviour. Mediation can best be achieved through a conciliation committee where dialogue is encouraged between teachers, parents and students.

In Mauritius, I can bear witness to very little response from parents requested to collaborate with teachers. On the contrary, parents are quick to accuse teachers of incompetence and indolence and in most cases students also sing the same tune. Parents tend to side with their children who breach school rules and this alienates teachers and parents. The result is that the much-needed partnership for the overall development of the child is weakened. In many instances, something considered wrong at school is allowed at home.

An international conference on citizenship education stressed that one becomes a good citizen by being involved in civic work and practising the 12 UNESCO values. This brings me to reiterate the importance of introducing citizenship education as a subject in all Mauritian schools till the age of 16. Students have to be disciplined physically, intellectually and spiritually right from an early age and the role of parents and mediators becomes strategic. My friends from the pre-primary unit of the ministry will agree that self-discipline is ingrained and coded even before pre-primary school. Society is changing so fast that anomalies are created and are not sufficiently addressed in school. There is no doubt that citizenship education will contribute largely in achieving the desirable goals.

PTAs have an important role to play but they do not always achieve much. In certain schools, they exist only in name and unscrupulous school managers sometimes divert PTA funds to their own private use.

It is also well-known that sports and games keep children together. Sadly, playingfields have disappeared in many schools as well as the glorious inter-college sports. This could be one reason why some youth hang around in shopping centres having nowhere to go.

Major challenge

Teachers should not be left alone to face the problem of violence at school. Indiscipline is a common collective problem, a serious one too. Let us stop pointing fingers right and left, putting blame and framing accusations. Our children’s future is at stake. Violence in school is a major challenge to all of us. We will not do justice to it if we pretend that it is someone else’s problem and view it myopically. The facts and figures that will emerge from the long-awaited research project on violence in schools, commissioned by the Mauritius Research Council, might hopefully constitute the hard truth that will allow us to come together and take collective responsibility.

We need well-planned preventive programmes to break the cycle of violence. Schools must also encourage undisciplined students to act responsibly and give them social responsibilities. The school is a powerful institution of inclusion and it will have to play its role fully for the welfare of the community it serves.

<B>Prem SADDUL

<I>Former MIE director & PSSA officer-in-charge</I>