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Lessons and Death

May 18, 2012 Editorial

A 17-year-old youth has been stabbed to death outside a ‘lessons place’ and his just as young assailant is incarcerated. No; it is not déjà vu: just three months ago an identical tragedy unfolded in front of another ‘lessons place’. While we do not have a conclusive study on the phenomenon, these two fatal stabbings of schoolboys by their peers at ‘lessons’ probably equal such outrages in the entire school system over the past decade.
While correlation does not imply causation, our authorities would be failing in their duty if they do not enquire into whether the environment of the ‘lessons’ culture facilitates such deadly bursts of anger in youths. In the past decade, we have witnessed an ever rising tide of violence in our official school system – and this in the face of a structure in place to ensure discipline and orderly behaviour. If that system is breaking down, should we be surprised that in the after-school (or ‘before school’) lessons where the children are ‘on their own’, there is a greater likelihood of tempestuous youths resorting to violence to settle the inevitable disputes of that cohort?
There are several issues that must be addressed. Firstly, youth is a time of hormonal-induced rambunctious behaviour, especially in asserting pecking-order pre-eminence. In the latest murder, we understand that one youth was being bullied about the ‘status’ (or lack thereof) of his clothes. In the earlier stabbing the argument was about a girl. One of the functions of our school system is to inculcate values in our youths so that their choices in action do no become one of life and death. Are our youths exposed to anger management techniques? Why are we not introducing counsellors in our schools? Rather than all those thousands of sociology graduates from UG, who cannot find jobs, shouldn’t we be steering some towards counselling?
The other issue – the resident elephant in the room of our education system – is the role of “lessons”. On the matter before us at this time – that of discipline – youths typically believe that they are free from the need for control once they are out of their schools’ premises. That some of them actually change out of their school uniform reinforces this belief. It is high time that these lesson-places be regulated just as any other private schools, and that they are made responsible for their charges. As a not-so-incidental aside, are these institutions paying their taxes? It is common knowledge that they are literally gold mines for their operators.
And of course, we cannot escape the fundamental question as to why the need for lessons is so pervasive that they exist in every nook and cranny of the Guyanese landscape? Perhaps in a culture that is so focused on earning certificates from exams, in this period when CSEC and CAPE are being taken, we can expect students to have an extra ‘brush up’. But we know that the lessons culture goes far beyond ‘brushing up’. In fact, we have a parallel educational system that has subverted the official one to such an extent that it will take a Herculean effort to repair matters.
Even in the premier schools, teachers – especially in the ‘difficult’ maths and science subjects – routinely do not cover the syllabus. They openly opine that the lacunae be filled by lessons. It is extraordinary that the Ministry of Education does not audit these matters. The Ministry has inveighed against its teachers conducting lessons, but after the initial expressions of disapproval, matters have subsided into the old status quo.
We have ranged perhaps widely from the unfortunate snuffing out of a youthful life. But it is our firm conviction that the authorities will have to deal with the lessons phenomenon, and its ancillary fallouts, in a comprehensive manner. Parents also have a role to play. Why are they not insisting that the syllabuses be completed during school hours?
Our condolences to the families of both the deceased and incarcerated youths.

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