FOR years, there have been reports in the press of violence against students by teachers in Saudi schools. Nothing has changed. This paper and others continue to report such cases. In some instances, children have been so badly beaten that they end up in hospital. The sickening truth is that there are some brutal teachers in classrooms who should never have been allowed near a school in the first place. The fact that they are a miniscule minority, that the overwhelming majority of teachers are committed to their students’ progress and do their job extremely well, sometimes in difficult circumstances, is irrelevant. Even one bad apple is one too many. Unfortunately, it is more than that.
The problem is institutional. Physical abuse in schools continues to occur not just because of dysfunctional individuals being given inadequate training but because there are no clear guidelines to schools as to what is permissible and what is not. As a result, these misfits are allowed to remain in post despite allegations about them or colleagues knowing full well that they are unfit for the job. The response by officialdom has been the all-too-predictable option of “let’s talk about it”. There are meetings to discuss the problem, workshops aimed at making teachers aware of the issue. None of this has stopped the abuse. And it is not going to. The response is inadequate. It is not good enough, every time a case emerges, officials saying yet again that it should not have happened, that there are rules against violence in schools. The message it sends is that those responsible will not be brought to book. In any event, does anyone actually know what the rules are? Training and awareness sessions have their role but a much simpler step is needed. There should be an outright ban on corporal punishment in schools. Without it, the situation will remain confused. Head teachers will not know where the line is drawn. If something is not illegal or no one knows what is permissible and what is not, instances of brutality will continue.
A call on banning corporal punishment in schools was made last week at a conference on child protection in Riyadh attended by 1,500 delegates from all over the Arab world. The fact is that the problem is not confined to Saudi Arabia. The story of an Egyptian boy killed by his teacher last year in Alexandria highlights a problem that affects the whole Arab world — and beyond. It is unrealistic to expect Arab action on this; the mechanism does not exist. But Saudi Arabia can lead the way. It can outlaw the practice in schools and follow the example in almost all Europe and many other countries, including China, the Philippines and India. Where Saudi Arabia leads, other Arab states will follow, not least because a significant number of teachers in the Kingdom come from those states. Banning corporal punishment does not mean recreating the shallow compensation culture of the US and elsewhere in the West, where it is all rights and no responsibilities. Discipline is needed in schools. But, as seen in many countries where corporal punishment has been abandoned, discipline can still be achieved without having to rely on brutality.
N. Ireland peace under attack
THE Northern Ireland peace process is strong enough to resist grotesque attempt to destroy it, said The Guardian in an editorial yesterday. Excerpts:
It is commonplace to observe that Northern Ireland has changed since the end of the Troubles, but that does not make the transformation any less extraordinary. The murderous attack on a British Army base in County Antrim on Saturday night will bring fears of a return to the bad times. The horror of the shootings was made greater by the banality of the circumstances in which they took place and the fact that the two young soldiers who died were not on active duty, but waiting in barracks before being sent to Afghanistan. But the peace process is strong enough to resist even this grotesque attempt to destroy it.
The attack, which also led to the wounding of four other men, including two civilians delivering pizzas, was not a surprise. A recent report from the Independent Monitoring Commission had warned that a small number of irredeemable sectarian thugs were “engaged in recruiting, training, targeting and the attempted procurement of weapons”. Last week Sir Hugh Orde said that the threat level was as high as at any time since he became chief constable seven years ago. The return of army special forces to the province is evidence of the seriousness of the situation. Sinn Féin, which opposed that move, has been left looking foolish. But the fact that the political process is being challenged by violent extremists does not mean it is breaking down.
The changed mood was evident in the way people from both communities gathered yesterday after church outside the Massereene army base. It was also obvious in remarkable statements from the leaders of Sinn Féin — the organization whose authority was most directly challenged by the attack. For the first time, mainstream republican leaders have accepted that overcoming violence is primarily a matter of policing, not politics.
