Role of parents, teachers in preventing violence in school
In the last three years, there were reports in the media of violent incidents involving students as either victims or perpetrators of crimes, including killing in the name of love in higher institutions in Jigawa State.
Within the period, some students of Federal University Dutse (FUD), Federal Polytechnic Kazaure, Jigawa State Polytechnic and Jigawa State College of Legal and Islamic Studies, Ringim were said to have been involved in murder cases.
A look at the development revealed that education stakeholders blame parents, teachers and the authorities on the rising incidence of students committing crime.
A parent, Sani Bala, with two children studying in higher institutions, said parents and teachers should be held responsible for the crimes committed by children. He said male parents have transferred the training and socialization of children to the female parents who also have a number of other responsibilities to handle.
According to him, male parents especially, civil servants didn’t monitor the behaviour of their children saying, female parents, too can hardly give the much needed training as most of them are against the tougher positions taken against their erring children, while in schools teachers didn’t report strange attitude of students to their parents.
“When home training is lacking, the fundamental aspect of human behaviour is missing and that could be the beginning of any form of anti-social tendency that will be exhibited later in life by children. To check that trend parents must live up to their responsibilities by ensuring that proper home training is inculcated right from infancy, otherwise, the trouble has just begun,” he said.
The chairman of Jigawa State Chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Abdulkadir Yunusa, blamed the unwholesome attitude of children on parents and government saying, the western culture of pampering children destroyed the tough and strict African way of upbringing, while hard drugs have become common in higher institutions.
He further argued that if the home training of children should continue in unacceptable manner, students would commit violent acts and there won’t be good leaders.
“Parents must wake up from their slumber while government must come up with more positive measures of checking the cases of drug abuse among students,” the NUT leader urged.
Dr. Mustapha Hussaini Danjuma, who is a senior lecturer with the Department of Sociology in Federal University Dutse, identified poor parental guidance and lack up proper counseling in the institutions as grounds for violent behaviour among students.
Owing to economic reason, most parents these days give little or no attention to the proper upbringing and socialization of their children as they are only concerned with how to cater for the family, while on the other hand the tradition of conducting interview for students for on the spot assessment of prospective students for admission has been replaced by Post-UTME.
“Parents must learn to give training to their children that is not only beneficial to them but to the society in general. Also, institutions must strengthen the directorates of students affairs in terms of giving guidance and counseling services to the students,” Dr Danjuma suggested.
In June 2015, a 300 Level English Language student of Federal University, Dutse, Bashir Musa, 26, was reported to have died from injuries he sustained in a chaotic confrontation over a girlfriend, Accountancy student in Jigawa State Polytechnic, Dutse, in Yalwanzai in the state capital, Dutse.
In March this year, a 200 Level Accountancy student of Hussaini Adamu Federal Polytechnic, Kazaure, Tolu Joshua, reportedly stabbed his girlfriend, who is also his course mate with a knife in the neck. The victim, who collapsed was said to have ended up suffering from paralysis.
Similarly, last month, a 300 level student of Jigawa State College of Legal Studies, Nasiru Ismail, killed his 22-year-old girlfriend for refusing to abort a pregnancy.