Dear Editor,

Across the globe many societies continue to struggle with the values and attitudes of their citizens.

Without a doubt the time has come for the authorities to incorporate character education in the National Standards Curriculum (NSC), as recently the nation was shaken to its core by numerous images of students engaged in fights at school and in public spaces.

Notwithstanding these latest disturbing images, school violence is not new or unique to any society. It is a given that children learn from their lived experiences. Undoubtedly, behavioural traits, when repeated, become habits. And given a context in which negative behaviour is pervasive and permissible, the society is facing a crisis.

It is rather unfortunate that given all the problems society has been experiencing with school violence, character education is still not yet part of the curriculum. There is one school of thought that says the business of character education is the responsibility of parents. However, parents do not necessarily have the skill sets or time to undertake the holistic approach needed for the development of their children’s character. Many parents depend on the school, the Church, and other agents of socialisation to mould the character of their children.

School safety is defined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the process of establishing and maintaining a school that is a physically, cognitively, and emotionally safe space for students and staff to carry out learning activities.

Many of our schools are not viewed as havens. It is rather foolhardy to suggest that students attending schools which are located in violence-prone areas are not impacted by the ongoing violence surrounding them. School safety is a combination of the physical, physiological, and psychological elements. Regrettably, the tendency is to overlook the psychological and physiological impact of violence on our students.

Both students and teachers are fearful on a daily basis. The time to flip this script has long gone. As a society we need to reclaim our schools, one school at a time.

For children to learn and teachers to teach, schools must be safe places. For many students and teachers, school is a scary and frightening place where they are bullied daily. While the statistics regarding crimes occurring on or near schools is unknown in some countries, there is documented evidence that this is problematic and needs urgent attention.

In the search for a solution we have turned many of our schools into fortresses, yet the violence in schools continues. Not feeling safe at school creates feelings of being victimised and mental health difficulties, including depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviour. Another well-known threat to students’ safety is bullying, which takes different forms, namely physical, cyber, verbal, and relational.

Considering that the root causes of school violence are numerous, teaching our students to better understand and manage their fears and anger without violence remains a challenge that requires a comprehensive and coordinated effort by all stakeholders, the schools, families, and other community institutions.

In order to safeguard stakeholders it is necessary to implement character education in our schools. Character education is a growing discipline in recent times, the intent being to optimise students’ ethical behaviour. We need to stop and take a serious look at the society since it appears we lack the fortitude and wherewithal to produce men and women of good character.

Marvin Berkowitz, professor of character education at the University of Missouri, St Louis, in his well-reasoned and logical synopsis of the issue, suggests that students who attend schools where they feel valued and safe will work harder.

Character education cannot cure all the world’s evils, but it can improve our classrooms and influence our students in positive ways by equipping them with the skills they need to be successful adults.

Wayne Campbell

waykam@yahoo.com