SO, THE ugly reality of school violence has once again caught national attention in the usual manner and there were the very predictable reactions from the community.
When the dust settles after a week or so, the issue will disappear from the national stage until some child places on social media another documentation of what has become a daily reality of schooling.
The routine usually follows a set formula: fight breaks out in or out of school, children capture the "entertainment" with their camera phones and place it on social media, it catches the attention of mainstream media personnel who can't resist the temptation of a sensational story, education stakeholders are asked to comment with the same predictable superficial analyses and solutions and the ministry indicates that the offending students will be suspended and provided with counselling.
Behind the scenes, school officials are bullied under the disguise of "duty of care" into conducting extensive investigations and writing instantaneous layers of reports to furnish the minister with information to address the media, showing that the ministry is on top of the issue.
Simultaneously, parents demand justice, with reporters ready and eager to carry their uncorroborated sensational and biased stories of victimisation and bullying while the school did nothing about it.
In the meantime, school administrators struggle to engage the support of parents of the offending students to resolve the issue(s) that gave rise to the violent conflict while navigating a mountain of bureaucracy to effect a suspension. This is the sequence of events that plays itself out in many of the nation's schools daily, constituting a prominent feature of our education system.
The spectre of a principal being totally disregarded by students as she tried valiantly to intervene in a student fight might have caused shock among many in the national community, but it is certainly not a new phenomenon among many school cultures. Students' blatant disregard for school authority figures is par for the course.
Many school officials have sustained injuries trying to part student fights over the years prompting TTUTA to advise teachers to be very cautious when intervening in student conflict, mindful that the first principle of health and safety is self-preservation.
In these frenzied moments of intense, uncontrollable anger and hysteria, it is sometimes impossible for the reasoning voice of a teacher(s) to prevent students from attacking each other, given their learned negative behaviours.
School officials can readily point to common behavioural traits among students who engage in deviant conduct. These are readily traced back to the homes and socialisation/education agents. Children, being products of their socialisation will bring to school behaviours and attitudes that they learn from home, their communities and social and mainstream media.
Anger, aggression, violence, intolerance and disrespect have become nor
