It is a pathetic but common human weakness to blame the devil for all manner of things even when we can see alternative truths about our predicament. The ongoing chaos in our schools is shameful and unprecedented both in magnitude, nature and intensity. The wanton destruction of life and property to the extent witnessed in the past two weeks by thugs in school uniforms must not be treated as a disciplinary issue. It is criminal and the full force of the law must be employed as part of the continuing search for long-term solution. Yet these events are not entirely surprising to keen observers of trends in our country. After the political thuggery witnessed last December, the young have now picked the baton in a race to ‘liberate’ themselves from the restrictive dictates of societal order. When a few years ago the government banned corporal punishment in schools, it was a great moment for celebration especially among many a school-going child in the country. While some parents welcomed this in good spirit, some - in candid demonstration of myopic judgement - even relished the idea of suing schools and teachers at the slightest opportunity, disgracing the noble profession even further. On the other hand, the teaching fraternity – the nurturers and custodians of the future generation – had little reason to smile. Despite the fact that I know that without the cane I probably would be a different person today, I stand eternally opposed to the misuse and abuse of the cane in the nature I went through in primary school days in the early 1990s, although I can not say the same of my high school experience where caning was almost non-existent. The government ban on caning and the ensuing publicity usurped from the teachers one of the most critical leverages they had in maintaining the ‘rule of law’ in the schools. Teachers are not gods/goddesses, but in the absence of alternative instruments like professional and peer counselling, the government must allow teachers and schools a significantly free hand to mould a responsible citizenship. In the ultimate count, the real losers are the majority well-behaved students who do not deserve the interruptions, the terror and associated trauma. We can blame drugs and even the devil, but the real devil is in the enduring injustice of socio-economic policies that centre the rich in economic planning; it is in the rising poverty among the many despite a ‘thriving economy’ of the few; and it is in the pressures resultant from these perverse socio-economic contradictions. The devil is in our politicians pronouncing policies that negate our shared values while their children study abroad or are fenced off from the subsequent mayhem in crumbling public school systems. The government must return the future of our country to the tested hands of our teachers. And because of their ever-declining interactions with the youth, parents must support teachers in their emerging role as both educators and parents.
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