VIOLENCE at different levels in society can become endemic without a holistic approach to the issue.
Violent behaviour in schools is cause for rising concern with decent children most often bearing the brunt of the problem. But the real tragedy is that this behaviour is a duplication of attitudes and actions witnessed in home environments.
Many females in the society, including teenagers, allow themselves to be treated with great disrespect by their male counterparts, which can escalate into myriad problems, including teenage pregnancy and contraction of sexually transmitted diseases.
The minibus culture has also added significantly to the degraded morality of the younger generation.
Unless communities begin to address these problems holistically, with everyone, especially the educational and religious authorities, as well as village elders and other authoritative figures playing an integral role in child development and the wellbeing of members of their communities, this scourge will perpetuate itself.
Those who practise the standards of yesteryear are sometimes mocked at today, but those standards were once the trademark of the Guyanese psyche.
The products of this system were decent, well-behaved, law-abiding adults who believed in the basic principles of honour, respect for their fellow humans, and compassion for the less fortunate in society.
The system involved training in decorum, deportment, and good manners, with the requisite and necessary inputs to achieving equitable intellectual, social and physical development, which started from the home, and which was strategically supported by a strong network involving the educational system and the community.
Discipline in schools has deteriorated, along with the morale of teachers and the students who are genuinely trying to achieve goals within what is quickly becoming widespread lawlessness in school populations.
Adding to this is the utter disrespect for the teachers exhibited by some parents who often accost and even assault teachers for daring to take disciplinary measures against their children. There is also a tendency for adults to assault children with whom their own children have had disagreements.
Irrespective of any consideration, no adult has a right to accost and/or assault any child in or out of the school premises.
If a parent has a complaint there is a procedure in place to address such issues, which has to be adhered to at all costs, because the consequences are very detrimental to both children, and the morale and morals of the entire school population.
Educational institutions are supposed to be protected environments for both parents and teachers, so children with severe disciplinary problems should be sent to obtain their education under paramilitary conditions, which may serve to restore their sense of social responsibility.
Adding to the problem is the fact that teachers are constrained from punishing children because of widespread concerns about abuse.
Discipline has to be left completely to the parents as teachers are allowed no latitude, despite the most provoking behaviour from troublemaking students, who even walk with weapons and threaten other students over trifling incidents.
Parents, on the other hand, can withhold privileges within the home environment, but without a simultaneous programme where the school is allowed some leeway, even with monitoring from officials from the Education Department, the problems of society will continue to deteriorate into more violence and indiscipline.