Indiscipline should never be tolerated in schools

Last week, Rwanda’s teachers joined their colleagues worldwide to celebrate World Teachers’ Day with the main event held at Nyamirambo Regional Stadium, Kigali. There was a common call to improve the welfare of teachers, dispensation of quality education and discipline among students. Many times those who get the chance to address teachers, especially policy makers, the message revolves around teachers being exemplary and doing their job. In turn, teachers are likely to request for improved welfare often hinged salary increase. Of course the low wages given to teachers has always been a huge problem that accounts for many leaving the profession for greener pastures. However, as the teacher’s events were going on, there was a rather disturbing story published by The New Times about four students who assaulted a teacher. The story filed from Nyagatare was about four senior one students from Nyamirama Secondary School who were said to be on the run at the time the police kicked off investigations into the matter. Interestingly, the headmaster of the school, Mr. Juma Byakatonda attributed the incident to a group of students who resent learning English. “We employed qualified English teachers to improve the use of the language but surprisingly a group of senior one and senior two students rejected it on grounds that they preferred to be taught in vernacular (Kinyarwanda). They hatched a plot to beat up their teacher because he only teaches them in English,” the headmaster was quoted. Now if you do not find the above revelations disturbing then I don’t know what is. I recall that during my school days I foolishly dodged a few English classes but what never crossed my mind was the desire to beat up a teacher. When teachers call for improved welfare I think it should include respect from those who expect their services. When I was the age of those boys, beating a prefect or fellow student resulted in an automatic expulsion from school. I recall a few students who failed to control their anger and fell in this trap. However never in my school life did I witness or hear of a student beating up a teacher, leave alone four students of senior one. Even when we had what could be described as violent strikes with a lot of school property damaged, not once was a teacher beaten. Of course we hated some teachers and there is nothing new about this but the guts to rain blows on someone hired to dispense knowledge, skills and attitudes, simply rattled me to the core. Such gross indiscipline should never be tolerated in schools. Many of us clearly know that it is a crime to beat up a law enforcement officer in this country whether a policeman, local defence or a military person. Why then should school children think it is okay to beat up their teachers for whatever reason? Parents should teach their children to respect teachers long before they think of sending them to school. A teacher cannot really work if they live in fear of being mugged by the same students they are supposed to groom. The above mentioned students should not be handled with kid gloves. In UK, the responsibility of disciplining children was taken away from the schools and parents by the state and the result was the unruly behaviour during the recent London riots. We do not have to go down the same path. Assaulting a teacher should carry such a heavy penalty if the vice is to be nipped in the bud. A child with the guts to beat up a teacher will tomorrow beat up his father and then the policeman on the street. ssenyonga@gmail.com