WHERE HAVE WE GONE WRONG?
THE outcry over the death of T. Nhaveen, 18, is seeing another round of promises and kneejerk reactions. To promise to take action against the bullies who caused his death is right, but it’s not good enough.
This is not the first time it has happened.
We keeping missing the point. We keep shifting responsibility. We do not have the resolve to fix it.
First, why did the teachers who knew of Nhaveen being bullied not act on it?
Why did people at the burger stall where Nhaveen was set upon not prevent it?
Why are teachers and principals unable to instil discipline in their students unlike teachers of yesteryear?
Unless we have the humility and commitment to admit that we have failed miserably with this social problem, we may see a recurrence of bullying.
As countries clean up their streets of crime, we continue to live and work in the shadow of crime.
Our homes, our vehicles, and places of business are padlocked, declared security zones, and armed to the hilt to stay safe, day or night.
We need an overhaul of the entire education system.
We need courage to admit where we have gone wrong.
Teachers, you need to be empowered to act within the confines of law, order and your vocation’s calling to ensure that students respect as well as fear you.
To parents, money is not the only ingredient for your children’s growth and development.
You need to demand and support ways to ensure that difficult and problematic kids can be treated.
Businesses must take part in the social engineering that can guarantee a thriving society.
Police must make their presence felt in schools like they did in the 1960s and 1970s.
They can collaborate, guide and aid schoolchildren, teachers, principals and parents to ensure that the young become law-abiding citizens.
We need a national will. We need a national conscience. We need a unified society to fight this problem and return to the nation a greater society of people for tomorrow.