Firm action needed to tackle school bullies
BULLYING is persistent unwelcome behaviour, mostly using unwarranted or invalid criticism, nit-picking and fault-finding.
It is present behind all forms of violence and can happen almost anywhere, especially in schools, including ours.
Consider the recent act of violence at a boarding school in Limbang. What is especially abhorrent about it is the assailants’ brazenness in thumping their nose at authority.
Apparently, they were not concerned about people knowing what they had done or getting caught for manhandling a junior schoolmate. Otherwise, why would they have circulated video copies of their shocking behaviour via handphones?
Their contemptible boldness in letting people know about a violent act they have perpetrated is, to say the least, disturbing for the wrong message it may have sent to like-minded individuals in a school environment where learning is supposed to be paramount.
Investigations have been underway since the story broke.
Both the school concerned and the police are viewing the incident as a serious disciplinary breach and have vowed stern action.
Indeed, there is urgency in getting to the bottom of the matter, considering not only one but three of the school’s rules have been broken – (1) bringing mobile phones into the school, (2) recording the incident and distributing copies of it in a most audacious manner that could only serve to tarnish the image of the school and (3) using violence on others. What is even more poignant is that the assault occurred in a religious school.
The Limbang incident is not the first nor will it be the last.
Just over a month ago, a bullying case was also reported in SMK Stampin. It was solved by the school authority following an internal investigation. The victim has since returned to school — after counselling. As for the bullies, it’s up to law enforcement to take action since this is a police case.
Earlier, an assault also took place at the government secondary school in Oya, Dalat, where some senior students beat up a defenceless junior schoolmate, suspected of stealing the mobile phone belonging to one of them.
The bullies could have reported the alleged theft to the school authority but chose instead to take the law into their own hands and cause grievous hurt to a fellow student when the problem could have been settled without violence.
We should be reminded as well that it was slightly over three years ago in 2007 that the whole country was outraged by the fatal bashing of a promising 16-year-old student at the hands of a group of seniors in a Bintulu school.
The tragedy that so needlessly cut short the life of Matteus Merring should serve as a grim reminder of the terrible consequences gang-bully can lead to.
Serial bullies have to have someone to pick on and appear unable to survive without a current target. They are people who have not learnt the lesson of consequences – that’s if they behave well, there are good consequences (reward) but if they behave badly, there are bad consequences (restriction, sanction, punishment and the like).
Since childhood, bullies have learnt they can avoid the unpleasant consequences of bad behaviour through the instinctive response of denial, blame, and feigning victimhood.
It’s an attitude that can be easily picked at a young age.
Hence, apart from the home, schools are the best place to show the ugly consequences of bullying and why they should be avoided.
Violence in schools must be summarily tackled through deeds, not just words, if our education system, particularly with regard to upholding discipline, is not to end up getting one black eye after another.
Indeed, there is no place for bullies or ruffians in our schools.
Their use of strong arm tactics to get their way is an effrontery to all that education stands for. They deserve the severest punishment, including expulsion and even imprisonment, if there is strong justification for it.
Parent-teacher associations can help by playing a more proactive role in promoting goodwill among the students.
More importantly, they need to assuage the angst of parents by working together to eradicate gangsterism or any other negativities in schools. Who could blame parents for being worried if their children were studying in a school with poor discipline.
March 7, 2010, Sunday
Tiada ulasan: