‘We’ve to do background checks before admitting children into schools’
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR AND BRIGHT JACOB
Experts in the education sector have exposed how the actions and inactions of parents and teachers encourage bullying in primary and secondary schools, day and boarding inclusive.
Reacting to the unfortunate death of Sylvester Oromoni, a student of Dowen College, Lagos, who was bullied to death, allegedly by some of his senior students, the experts said that most teachers lack means of spotting characteristics of bullying in school children and that some parents loathe the sincere assessment of their wards who tend to be recalcitrant.
A renowned political scientist and media scholar, Ayo Olukotun, said the upsurge in bullying is part of that culture of trying to resolve issues by force, by threat, and intimidation, rather than by dialogue, consensus and persuasion.
He said children are growing into and are being socialised into a new normal of violent tactics, and violent reprisals.
“Bullying and intimidation thrive when there’s not enough enforcement of discipline. You know that parents now stand behind their disobedient wards to fight teachers and principals for disciplining children. So, the culture of discipline that was the standard in the old times has virtually collapsed. Then, of course, if you look at the national template itself, it’s not encouraging in terms of crime and punishment. There’s a disconnect between crimes and punishment because many crimes go unpunished. Even in terms of public sector resources, we’re told that someone has stolen as if that news is meant to entertain the public, rather than things that should be severely punished if only to have a deterrent effect.
“Parents are partly to be held responsible for bullying, to the extent that they themselves don’t discipline their children or are forgetful about them. To that extent, their children may grow wild and copy bad habits. So, it is linked to the collapse of the home as a learning and disciplinary centre, that idea has collapsed virtually,” Olukotun said.
A former Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology in Ogun State, Modupe Mujota, noted that bullying is an age-old practice and that it takes place across all age groups and gender divides.
She said bullying occurs in varying degrees, but of recent appears to be growing in frequency and intensity in physical attacks with prominence brought to it because the youth are alarmingly involved.
“Global trends appear to unwittingly “celebrate” incidences with the proliferation of social media luring misguided youth with the “promise” of online views. Acts of cruelty are published and with that, they need to be increasingly gruesome. Our collective value system as a global village is being eroded as the lines between right and wrong, good and bad, praiseworthy and condemnable are increasingly blurring. When you have all these coalesce amidst other prevailing socioeconomic challenges – poor education infrastructure, lack of engaging extracurricular activities, inadequate counselling and psychological support, avarice in operators, the result is what we now have,” said Mujota, who is presently a member of the Ogun State House of Assembly.
“Bullying and intimidation thrive when there’s not enough enforcement of discipline. You know that parents now stand behind their disobedient wards to fight teachers and principals for disciplining children. So, the culture of discipline that was the standard in the old times has virtually collapsed. Then, of course, if you look at the national template itself, it’s not encouraging in terms of crime and punishment”
A senior lecturer at the department of petroleum engineering, University of Benin, Onaiwu Oduwa, regretted that many factors are responsible for bullying in our schools.
According to him, “First, it starts from the home. If children are living in an abusive relationship, they will transfer the same to society. If they have parents who don’t teach them good morals, they will also learn from their parents and transfer the same to society. And most of these children who bully may be into one cult or the other. Their parents, too, are usually into cultism, and think that when their children are bullies, then they must be “hard men”.
“I was watching a video where some female students were beating up a female teacher. The rate at which this is happening now, students are even bullying teachers.
“Also look at the values of society, where for instance someone said that she gave birth through surrogacy and people were applauding. The same person said that the father of the child is not known so that he will not be linked to the child. Is that child not a bastard?
“So, it’s a two-way thing. Some children are bullied because of the kind of home they come from. If the friends of that child who was through surrogacy get to know that the child does not know that father, they will start making the child the object of scorn, and gradually bullying will start. It’s either he now bullies them out of anger, or they continue bullying him or her. So, everything emanates from the home,” he stressed.
Ibrahim Ya’u Nabayi, Secretary, Kaduna State Parents Teachers Association, and National Administrative Secretary of the National Association of Parents Teachers Association, also noted that bullying among peers is a worrisome situation and that it may be attributed to the fact that students see their teachers doing it.
Nabayi said the students copy teachers as their role models, pointing out that “You find out in some homes when the parents say something, the child will say that his teacher said something else. You can see the impact of the teacher in the life of that school-going child.
“So, there has to be a measure to control bullying among the children because it can lead to death and so many unforeseen things that will not augur well for the system, and it can also distract the attention of their peers to school. This is why school authorities and parents have to collaborate in every aspect of the child and the school.
“The current policy on education does not recognize bullying any longer, unlike the previous days when you had corporal punishment. So, with the recent happenings now and current trend in the education sector, governments at all levels have banned corporal punishment in the sector. So, I don’t know why teachers and administrators are allowing this to happen. Is it because there’s no deterrent punishment?
“We are not happy with the ugly trend that is happening now. We hope the authorities concerned, policy makers and implementers will bring out other modalities to checkmate this ugly trend in schools,” he added.
Speaking, a school administrator and Director, Olive Branches School, Osogbo, Osun State, Oyinkansola Omigbodun, said school owners and government have abandoned the affective domain of learning which caters for morals, values, empathy and good behaviours and have concentrated more on the cognitive aspect.
Omigbodun said the insensitivity of parents and teachers to the attitudes of school children is making bullying thrive. She expressed worry that parents even fight teachers that attempt to correct their children’s immoral behaviour through discipline or spanking.
She called on stakeholders to look inward and formulate Anti-bullying policies such as the organisation of seminars and training for teachers and the employment of experienced counsellors in schools.
“This bullying occurrence is a disturbing trend and all stakeholders have to look inwards. We neglect socio-emotional learning. There are three domains of learning. We have the cognitive domain, the psychomotor domain and the affective domain. The affective domain takes care of morals, values, kindness, empathy and these are covered by socio-emotional learning.
“We have no choice as educational stakeholders to teach these things consciously and effectively. What most people don’t know is that junior students also bully themselves. Students should be taught the characteristics of bullying and bullies. They should also be told to report matters to the school management and parents.
“Parents need to discipline their children and also be their friends. It’s a lot of work to operate a boarding house. The idea of seniority in schools should be checked. Many young adults are traumatised because of the ugly things they faced in boarding schools. It’s unfortunate that boarding schools are now becoming environments for trauma to breed. We must fish out bullies in schools,” she maintained.
“I have noticed that some teachers are guilty of bullying. A lot of teachers bully students. Some teachers don’t understand that students learn at different phases. They tend to dislike any student that learns slowly and is harsh to them. That’s a form of bullying also. Some teachers give preferential treatment to certain categories of students and this is common in private schools. A child who is experiencing a difficult moment must see the teacher as a friend and not an enemy”
The school administrator added that “In instances where a child is reported as a bully, immediately, the child should be made to understand that what he or she did was wrong, the person should be disciplined and then counselled. It is important that parents are informed promptly. It is important to know where that child is coming from. There should be background checks on where that aggression or bully behaviour is coming from. It could be that the home is very hot or the parents are separated or that the house is always full of domestic violence issues. We have to find out because we admit children to schools.”
Also speaking, a Clinical Psychologist at LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomosho, Adebimpe Oluwafisayo, called for strong anti-bullying policies in schools saying that teachers also bully their students.
She said most children are not emotionally mature before their parents enrol them in secondary schools and boarding houses. Such developments, according to her, make bullying thrive.
The medical practitioner and lecturer at the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomosho, said, “Most children are not emotionally mature enough to be in secondary schools not to talk of being in boarding schools. You see a child of 8 years in secondary school. And the boys want to exhibit their powers; their attention-seeking behaviour. The teachers should be sensitive enough to see if a child is well or not. The teachers should be able to spot it if a child feels withdrawn in school or exhibits symptoms of bullying.
“I have noticed that some teachers are guilty of bullying. A lot of teachers bully students. Some teachers don’t understand that students learn at different phases. They tend to dislike any student that learns slowly and is harsh to them. That’s a form of bullying also. Some teachers give preferential treatment to certain categories of students and this is common in private schools. A child who is experiencing a difficult moment must see the teacher as a friend and not an enemy.
“This is why there should be constant seminars, workshops and training for teachers to know how to spot bullies. There should be a regulatory body in the educational system that should see to the eradication of bullying in schools.
“I want to appeal to parents; and those who call themselves ‘millennial parents’ to stop loathing their children being corrected. If a child steals in school and a teacher tries to communicate that to the parents by writing it in his or her report card, hell will be let loose. Once a child is correctly analysed by teachers, the parents begin to resent the school system and say it’s not true. This attitude should be changed because it encourages children to form bad attitudes like the bullying we are talking about.
“Now, children do anyhow and get away with their misdeeds without any form of sanctions by their parents. Parents will come and fight in school if you beat or spank their children. So, we have to talk to ourselves as parents, generation whatever parents, please, let us allow these children to grow properly and have the right values.
“I also want to emphasise that there should be anti-bullying policies across schools. There should be trained psychologists in schools for this. All schools must have rules and regulations. Bullying tips should be written and made public in schools so that all students would note them,” the don noted.
