Calls for classes in conflict management
LESSONS in conflict management should be introduced at primary schools, so pupils know how to mediate situations as they grow older without turning so violent.
That is the view of various education role-players in light of the turmoil that broke out at the University of KwaZulu-Natal last week and at Sparks Estate Secondary School, where pupils trashed the principal’s car and damaged property.
Professor Labby Ramrathan, associate professor at the School of Education at UKZN, said conflict management must be taught – but not as a once-off course. It should become part of regular learning.
He said school pupils and tertiary students should receive lessons on issues varying from conflict of views and interest to conflict in terms of values. “These lessons must become part of one’s lived experience. They must become habitual,” said Ramrathan.
“We have to reach a stage where we know how to work through the differences. This should happen from primary school level, where pupils are taught how people (view) things differently.
“The idea of multiple realities needs to be reinforced, meaning there is more than one view. What is real for me may not be real for you. By understanding the level of multiple truths that exist, one can appreciate, understand and accept and then mediate through engagement and not through violence.”
When asked why youths turned violent, he said they felt they were not being listened to.
“This is when they become frustrated and mass mobilisation leads to violence. They do not understand there is another reality.”
Ramrathan said conflicts could happen at any time and that adaptation was critical as it helped one survive.
The spokesman for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, Muzi Mahlambi, attributed violence to youths coming from broken homes. “Some come from child-headed homes and others have both parents but due to job requirements, the father may work elsewhere. Boys need their dads, who can teach them the survival skills that are non-violent.”
He said those youths without father figures turned to quick-fix solutions – violence of some kind. “This is then condemned, but to (the youths), this is all they know.”
He said schools offered Life Orientation to help pupils work through problems, which was similar to conflict resolution. Mahlambi also encouraged religious organisations to impart life skills to youth.
“Don’t distance yourself from helping what could become a future president. Do your bit to mould that person to make him better rather than allowing him to find his way to Westville Prison.”
The president of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa), Basil Manuel, said South Africa was a violent country and this violence was carried into schools and tertiary institutions.
He said the education department was giving too much credit to a single subject such as Life Orientation. It was vital for not only youths, but also teachers and lecturers, to attend conflict resolution courses. Naptosa would hold conflict resolution workshops for teachers next year, said Monvel.
South African Democratic Teachers’ Union provincial secretary, Nomorashiya Caluza, said they had a conflict resolution programme, but due to limited resources it could not be run often.