LEARNERS’ RIGHTS OVER RESPECT

Sir,

I have been reading with great concern the events surrounding schools, in particular the surge in gangsterism and most recently, the story about a pupil fighting a teacher in one of the schools in the Lubombo Region.
First things first, while positive discipline was enforced during our time in high school, the use of corporal punishment was the preferred form of discipline and everyone that was in high school in the mid-2010s will agree with me that this form of discipline did more good than harm to the holistic development of the learner. As scary as a thrashing was, it surely kept us in check and we were very much aware of the boundaries we could and could not cross.

Witness

Not even once did I witness a teacher and a learner engage in a brawl. The learner knew his place, which is why I was sent into a state of shock when I read about the incident of a learner and a teacher who were apparently involved in a physical fight. I have no doubt in my mind that the fear of a thrashing was the reason why we acknowledged that there was no room for retaliation in response to a teacher’s punishment. However, as I said before in my previous letter that was published on this very platform, what I say should never be taken as representative of the nation’s mood and I always stand to be corrected.

Questions

Now that we have that out of the way, one of the handful of questions that arise is the banning of corporal punishment the reason why we read of such stories or even witness them in schools? Inas- much as I am tempted to answer the question with a firm yes, I ask myself yet another question(s); why is it that these kind of events unfold in government schools and not private ones? What is it that private schools are doing to ensure that authority is given due respect, that government schools are not doing, since the use of corporal punishment was also banned in private schools too? I am not trying to paint all government schools with the same brush, but I had to categorise for perspective and I hope I am not taken out of context.
Maybe it is time for government, through the Ministry of Education and Training, to visit private schools and learn a thing or two on management, in particular, how private schools remain as schools that uphold the highest standards of behaviour and academic success, then utilise the same approaches in running government schools because a majority of the young population is enrolled in these government schools.

If government continues to turn a blind eye on such issues, then we are headed for doom as a country and are breeding a society that is characterised by anarchy, which will rear its ugly head beyond the parameters of the school environment. In all honesty, in the banning of corporal punishment, government has only succeeded in emphasising learners’ rights over the supremacy of respect, which learners have taken full advantage of, and are abusing the access to their rights to defy authority and paint teachers trying to keep them in check as villains. I have read so many times on Facebook, where learners vilify their teachers because they have no interest in being held accountable for their actions. To them, rights mean total disregard for authority then getting away with it. Maybe I am the slow one, but can government kindly explain to us again why it decided to ban the use of corporal punishment in schools, with a system that has proven to be a costly gamble, then take it from there.
 
Gen Z of the 90s

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