Gender-Based Violence in education : a serious societal predicament

The UN theme chosen this year for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, celebrated on 25th November, is: ‘Together we can end Gender Based Violence in Education.’ How far school-related gender based violence is a reality in Mauritius? How should we address this issue? News on Sunday provides an insight into the matter.

16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign seeks to eliminate violence against girls and women as well as to promote positive action towards ending gender-based violence around the world.

Gender-based violence cuts across all boundaries of age, community, cultures, ethnicity, religion and the whole of society. Both direct violence, such as assault and sexual harassment, and indirect violence, such as attitudes and stereotypes, are not only perpetrated at homes, that is in the private sphere, but also in the public sphere at places such as work, schools, among others.

School-related gender based violence indeed represents a barrier to education, particularly for girls as they are most likely to be victims of inequalities in their communities and cultures. As the United Nations Population Fund indicates, an estimated one in three girls around the world will experience physical or sexual abuse or violence in her lifetime. In Mauritius, as indicated by Statistics Mauritius, women are more likely to be victims of domestic violence than men and of the reported cases to the Child Development Unit of the Family Support Bureau in 2016, 54% of the victims were females.

President of the Government Secondary School Teachers' Union (GSSTU) Roshan Boodnah, the President of the Government Teachers’ Union (GTU) Vinod Seegum and Dorine Chuckowry, Rector of Saint Bartholomew’s college shed light on the issue in Mauritius.

Increase of violence in our schools

According to the President of the GSSTU, an increase in violence at secondary school level has been observed. “Now unfortunately enough, it has been observed that there has been a steady increase in the number of violence-related cases in secondary schools. To talk about recurrence nonetheless would be unjust to a system that has been relentlessly combating this form of mental and physical behaviour amongst juveniles.

We need to understand that with a rapidly-evolving socio-economic context and an inadvertent erosion of values-based informal education, this eruption was unavoidable to a certain extent,” says Roshan Boodnah. At the primary level, Vinod Seegum utters that the issue which existed mostly in secondary institutions has now been transposed in primary institutions. As he underlines, “with the rapid societal development coupled with children growing up more mature than earlier, the problems which we experienced in secondary is now common in primary schools.

Indeed it has become recurrent. Moreover, with parents not willing to accept their responsibilities about their kids being disruptive, they agree that the children deserve to be punished. Above all, the circular prohibiting the slightest corporal punishment or any sort of non-physical discipline is now in possession of several parents who use same to blackmail teachers who are indeed at a loss about how to deal with indiscipline and violence at school.”

The rector of the private-aided secondary institution Saint Bartholomew’s College, Dorine Chuckowry trusts that the cases of violence in schools are not extreme. “There are mostly verbal than physical ones. At our school, which is a mixed school, we have rarely come across such cases. In fact, to ensure that any form of violence does not take place, we do a close monitoring of the students even during recess time.

During breaks our teachers, based on an established shift system, do surveillance in corridors and classes. This is to ensure that discipline is always present and that students are not left unattended. We believe that prevention is better than cure.”

Violence in urban institutions

Vinod Seegum trusts that the school-based violence is present mostly in primary urban institutions than in rural ones. “Kids know that teachers do not have the right to discipline them. They try to take advantage of it to cause havoc in schools. In one school in the suburbs of Port Louis, a group of students come to school but never goes to the classroom. This situation is snowballing in other educational institutions.

This occurs mostly in urban areas, in the suburbs, in poverty stricken areas,” he states.
On the other hand, Roshan Boodnah does not believe that violence is restricted to a particular region. “Violence has spread its unsightly and corrosive tentacles across the length and breadth of all schools, irrespective of their location, although we might say, under correction, that violent forms of behaviour are less conspicuous in girls’ schools (not to say that it does not exist though).”

Forms of violence in our schools

Roshan Boodnah argues that violence is parasitic. He utters that through its various forms and formats, violence maims the educational and social development of young learners. “Every typical academic year brings its lot of irascible and unbecoming behaviours: verbal abuse, use of expletives within school environment, bullying, racketing, peer aggression, teacher aggression (!), damage to property and so on, the list is exhaustive.

What is becoming a cause for concern is the abuse of social media platforms to conduce victimisation, for example, teenagers are literally held as ‘helpless hostages’ under the debilitating influence of their peers via popular social networks,” he says.

Dorine Chuckowry trusts that verbal and physical violence is recurrent in mainstream schools. “I have observed that verbal violence is more likely to take place in non-mixed schools. Verbal abuse and fights are more likely to emerge among girls-girls and boys-boys group than in mixed groups due to peer pressure, gossips, ego, among others. At our school for example, we promote and establish mutual respect among genders and we have observed that these discrepancies do not take place, as the boys and girls are growing and learning together,” she explains.

She also states that bullying is one of the most recurrent form of violence spreading in our schools. “We have welcomed this year a student from a mainstream star school who was a victim of bullying since she was in Form I (Grade 7). She is very at ease in our school and has peace of mind as all students get along very well.”
Dorine Chuckowry also confides that she did come across cases of physical violence among students.

“We have an open-door policy. I once had a female student who confided to me that her boyfriend used to slap her. As a qualified counselor, I advised her to put an end to the relationship as it is a serious issue. I also advised her to concentrate on her education, which is a priority.”

No age limit for violence

Is there a particular age group that perpetrates violence or that is most affected by violence in education? Vinod Seegum trusts that it is students aged between 10 to 12 who mainly perpetrate violence in primary institutions. “It is mostly the 12+ students who have recourse to violence, namely those who repeat Grade 6. That is those who have failed and come back for another year. Fortunately, the Ministry has decided to do away with Repeater Classes. All students will move to grade 7, whether passed or failed.”

However, Roshan Boodnah, on his side, trusts that there is no age limit for violence in the education system. “The youngest learners are always the ones most at risk, not only from a physical perspective, but also because they are in the process of imbibing everything that they experience, and if violence exhibited by their older peers becomes part and parcel of their school routine, then their psycho-social development would be admittedly put in jeopardy, and we might end up with individuals who would be prone to anarchy in an otherwise peaceful society.”

Factors causing violence in our schools

The President of the GTU, Vinod Seegum trusts that factors promoting violence in primary education are “absolute poverty, broken families, bad environment, drug stricken areas, absence of parent control.” Roshan Boodnah, on his side, utters that the factors should not be considered independently since many of them are amalgamated to constitute a dangerous mixture which threaten the very stability of a school.

“Many teenagers who exhibit violent behaviour have themselves been former victims of such behavior. Others are simply emulating what they have been experiencing in their more intimate spheres of life, such as their homesteads. Often emotionally distressed and harbouring anti-social beliefs, these ‘young perpetrators’ find solace and safety in a group of friends that support the same attitude.”

He adds that this is now coupled with low or an absence of parental involvement. He argues that disciplinary practices legally entitled to be used as corrective measures at school are very limited in scope. “These disciplinary practices are clearly not sufficient in nature and magnitude to effectively deter violence at school. Educators, to avoid any reprisal from both parents and authorities, prefer to control the eruption of violence rather than eradicate it, once and for all, since the latter option would be beyond means afforded to them.”

Solutions to end violence in our schools

Dorine Chuckowry says that communication and trust among school teachers, the management and the students are vital. “At our school, we listen and respond with care and attention to the needs, problems and demands of our students.

We also provide counseling, as we have six qualified teacher-counsellors at our school. I thus believe that counseling is important. We also treat our students like our children.” She argues that there is a false conception regarding mixed schools. Dorine Chuckowry trusts that secondary institutions should be mixed in order to curb the violence among students. “All of our primary schools are mixed.

But we separate the genders when they are in the most crucial period of their lives. It is during adolescence that they build their characters. Mixing them will allow them to learn about mutual respect.” She also believes that sex education is insufficient. “We just hear about sex education. What we need is learn how to respect the other sex.”

Roshan Boodnah trusts that there is the central need for an altogether set of custom-made but well-thought of and carefully-planned realistic and pragmatic measures as every context is different. He states that there is the need to re-introduce the system of Saturday detentions wherein the school discharges itself of any responsibility before and after the detention time.

“Moreover, the post of Disciplinary Master should be rolled out to schools as soon as possible. Every child joining a school comes with a unique mind- and social set of experiences, and the school needs to become a comfort zone, conducive to learning, core academics and ethics simultaneously. Finally, we have to make the parent become a participatory component of the schooling process, irrespective of the socio-economic background, level of literacy or professional commitments.”

For Vinod Seegum, a small dose of discipline should be allowed. “A slight ‘coup de rotin’ would not be excessive. The authority of teachers should be restored. The circular prohibiting discipline should be reviewed. Parental schools should be opened (using same school infrastructure) so as to sensitize and educate parents. Education in human values is a must, nay mandatory. Specialist teachers need to be recruited for this purpose. The recruitment of Discipline Masters in all schools will remedy to an extent,” he claims.