The ManicaPost
Shelton Mwanyisa
Emerging Issues in Education
Schools are often ranked according to their ability to produce the best academic results.
I am yet to hear of a school that has been awarded for producing disciplined students.
However, the real problems affecting society are not academic.
Instead, they are discipline based.
Bullying is a persistent public health concern that has a significant impact in the school and community at large.
Sometimes teachers and parents do not take the problem seriously as they regard it as part of growing up.
Bullying is a serious problem for the entire community because of its impact on the ecology of child development.
The school is considered to be particularly an important setting for implementing systematic approaches towards preventing bullying.
This week we focus on the strategies that can be employed to curb bullying in schools.
Social workers
It is time for schools to be proactive in dealing with the 21st Century educational problems.
Schools should seriously consider employing social workers who are experts in paediatric health issues and, therefore, can have an impact on the safety of students, including students who bully others and those who are bullied.
The counselling covered in teacher education programmes is inadequate to fully equip teachers with skills to deal with aggressive behaviour.
Physiological theories say that the bullies are genetically different from others.
The bullies generally enjoy and get satisfaction from seeing other children in pain.
However, it should be noted that when provided with proper counselling, the children with these personality traits can learn empathy and compassion, which puts them at lower risk for bullying others.
Cultivating ubuntu
The schools should cultivate a culture of unhuism where emphasis is on cooperation rather than individualism.
Schools that recognise and reward those that practice anti-bullying behaviours reduce the possibility of the manifestion of bullying.
The teaching of Heritage Studies and Family Religious and Moral Education can achieve this.
Life skills help the students to be empowered in challenging situations.
Skills such as leadership, responsibility and communication can be means to notice and prevent bullying.
Implementation of rules
If the schools do not have high standards for the way students should treat each other, then bullying will be more likely to prevail.
In cases where the rules are not strictly enforced there is classrooms, bullying will occur.
Institutions that have strict rules and close supervision of students are likely to have fewer cases of bullying than where children are left unattended for long periods of time.
I rest my case.
To be continued next week.
