THE Education Ministry must be commended for mounting a stakeholder session to address violent behaviour by students in schools.
Though not as widespread as it is in schools in some other Caribbean Community member states, violence by male students in schools has become a matter of concern and the ministry last week convened an open forum at the International Conference Centre.
The theme of the forum was `Promoting Safe, Acceptable Behaviours and Positive Values in Schools’ and involved teachers, parents, students and representatives of UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund).
Measures proposed to address the issue include an emergency preparedness response programme in schools and special training for parents.
At the session, Education Minister Mr. Shaik Baksh noted that his ministry cannot carry out the task on its own but it was not determined who will take on the responsibility for conducting the training workshops for parents.
It was pointed out that most of the violent students were from single parent households headed by mothers but participants disagreed that female parents are ineffective.
There is merit in the several proposals emerging from the forum and we feel a crucial factor has to be values instilled in children at home and in their wider community.
Family values are at the heart of the moulding of children and a closer check by teachers and other education officials on the home situation of potentially deviant students could be rewarding in reforming those inclined to violence.
Teachers, monitors, prefects and others in the school system should be taught how to watch out for early signs among `troublesome’ students so that counselling and other means may be used to help them overcome their tendencies toward violent behaviour.
Troubled students may want to take out their frustrations by beating up on weaker students in school and spotting the early signs could help dissuade them from the violent path.
While the mass media are also vital in helping to get the right messages across to students and parents, care must be taken about what kinds of TV shows, movies, DVDs and music children are exposed to.
Far too many TV shows, music videos, songs and video games depict and glorify violence and violent behaviour and impressionable young minds can be schooled into accepting the violent way towards resolving difficulties and settling scores.
Students found with weapons in schools must be disciplined and counselled and background checks done at home to determine what conditions would prompt such  recourse.
The school is an environment of learning and the government has and continues to expend huge sums on improving physical conditions and helping needy households with free uniforms and meals for students.
But other factors are encroaching on the learning environment, including drug pushing, gangs and ‘sexting’ on cell phones.
Bullying of students is now causing concern in some schools in the United States where reports say some students have been driven to suicide by others.
We welcome the Education Ministry’s early heeding of the warning signs of violence in some schools and hope that churches, non-governmental organisations and others will join the bid to nip this problem in the bud.