Education

Unruly behavior of students becoming prevalent

February 24, 2020 7:00 am

The Education Ministry says the unruly behavior of students is becoming more prevalent and difficult to deal with at times.

There has been a recent increase in number of assault cases involving students.

Earlier last week, a student from a prominent school appeared in the Suva Magistrates court for allegedly assaulting another student while his two accomplices face suspension.

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Education Minister Rosy Akbar says while students are protected by teachers within the school premises, it becomes a challenge after school hours.

“We are guided by the child protection policy, we are guided by the behavior management policy but in reality sometimes it becomes very difficult for us to deal with the behavior of some students these days. It not a general behavior across the country but there are certain schools where we will have to see what we can do.”

Akbar says parents also have a major role in disciplining their children.

“Parental roles and responsibilities can never be compromised. So we asking parents to also step up in their role to ensure that they talk to their children about such behaviors because we cannot continue to let it go and that is a major issue for us at the Ministry now.”

The Education Minister says bullying is another major area of concern.

According to the report on the International Day against Drugs Abuse & Illicit Trafficking, there were over 27,000 violence cases registered in schools in 2018.

Some of these offences include slapping, punching, bullying and swearing.