UPDATED 17th December 2018
This is first of five write-up about school fights among Lae city schools. I am going to look at what
was wrong, how groups are formed, impacts on students' lives, what Morobe education officials and politicians can do, what can be done and what if what can be done is not done.
School, as an organisation, functions within a culture: school facilitates a way to do things and participants (students and teachers) adhere to it. This then creates vibrant learning atmosphere within which stems adjacent nomenclatures like students' ethos and staff's code of practice.
So he who is at the helm of any learning institution must come up with the ultimate solution. (This is a topic for my other post so keep in check)
It is important to ensure the ethos and codes remain healthy and functional. Apparently, there is more to be desired from schools in Lae - the lae city schools.
To begin with, every stakeholder involving and receiving this vital government service (Education) must first asks ‘What went wrong?!’. This question supersedes when, why, who or how. Only if this can can effectively analysed, then stakeholders and concerned citizens can use it as pointer to fight against school fights.
So what happened, then?
A culture (note: I call a culture and not cult) was created by students (students' culture) and it existed parallel to that of the affected schools
(established schools' culture). Education psychology dictates that a culture can be negative or positive whether it is schools' or students'. In Lae city schools an unpopular and detrimental students' culture has existed right under the noses to school administrators and local education authorities which seem to have continued unobstructed over the years.
For whatever reason, students' way of doing things in and around schools went undetected
(or ignored!). It flourished in schools like Bugandi Secondary School,
Bumayong Lutheran Secondary School, Lae Secondary School and Busu Seconday School.
This culture has tentacles in primary schools, too. It has gone from bad to worse - uncontrollable!
Today the culture created by students evidently has prominence because it had an influence on negative behaviours about school. More-so, 'generational' structure into which every student is a subject makes it difficult for him/her to take an independent stand against it. Almost unavoidable!
How are students identified?
What happened among schools in Lae is contrary to good student culture. Students are distinctly identified on two obscure but effective conditions: where and why.
WHERE: This takes precedence. Students from same area mostly attend the same primary school. They know their seniors and their seniors know theirs. They, by default, easily identify themselves with whom they know, hence generation groups takes stronghold.
WHY: Being part of a group is survival instinct many animals display. Due to peer effect within school - to actually survive and thrive in a city school - students have to identify themselves with their peers.
What is bad is the fact that students are absorbed into these groups where the atmosphere is completely opposite to norms of every school. Instead, it promotes rebellion and disobedience. A grave concern when not only practising good character and personality at young ages are vital, but also good academic achievement.
A student by default joins a group or align themselves with one. Other reasons like smoke buddies, alcohol mates, class mates, etc are supplementary as they fall under 'where' and 'why'.
Lae city schools have a situation where negative students' culture exists parallel to schools' culture. It has got to a point when the Lae school administrators, school boards, Morobe Provincial Education board, Provincial Educations Adviser, Morobe Provincial Administrator, Morobe Governor and other Morobe Education officials must not let bad students' culture takes over schools' culture.
Four Impacts Within the Education System
The impacts of negative student's culture on students' lives are many both now or later and whether they are in the village or workplace. Those stated below are impacts on educational strand - what is happening within educational circles.
Rebellion: Students are influenced to develop negative ethos by doing something against school's prescribed norm. Such students' behaviour are to prove that they can do something against school's principles and get away! Call it the test of 'daring'. For example, deliberately disobeying teachers or causing injury to other students or taking drugs. This can lead to other serious incidences like having sex, taking alcohol, skelim boros, involve fights and killings, etc.
High Drop Out: There is likely to be a high rate of students failing their examinations. This is a concern for parents; it is also a concern for those running the school; and a concern for those at the helm of the Education System in Morobe.
Education Gap: The is a lap - a generational gap - where Morobe would have had a population of half educated individuals roaming the streets and villages.
Substandard Secondary Schools: Standard of a school is linked to students' performance. It has been a disgrace for Lae schools as far as students performances is concerned. It is shameful to class a school as 'low standard'. Substandard schools would be appropriate for schools in Lae City.
It is now time to think differently.
So, what has been done to address this problem? Here is what the Morobe Provincial Education Chairman had to say.
In my next post I’ll explain the roles and responsibilities of School administrators, school board, Morobe Provincial Education board, Provincial Educations Adviser, Provincial Administrator, Morobe Governor; what they must do their school levels.
