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.”