On the destruction of school property

THE torching of the Glenvista High School Hall by a group of learners who flatly refused to write an assessment exam warrants our attention as a society.

The destruction of property during times of challenge and controversy is not a new phenomenon, it is an ancient practice that stubbornly refuses to be tamed globally.

Human beings have a propensity to take out their rage on property when they are dissatisfied with the status quo. Irate commuters torch trains and municipal workers trash the streets with garbage.

These learners mimic the violent behaviour of university students in South Africa during protest action, as well as the behaviour of superpowers such as the US.

To understand behaviour, understand the image. To change behaviour, change the image or the script. Simply put, to understand the behaviour of violence at our schools and universities, we must understand the image or the script.

The destruction of university property during protest action by protesters has been the most combustible problem, and continues to raise controversy. Five years ago, protesting students in South Africa destroyed artworks and rare books as they set laboratories and university property alight on university campuses across South Africa while demanding free education and the scrapping of historical debt.

The university community in South Africa is compelled to spend a lot of money annually out of its shoestring budget to repair properties that have been damaged by students during their towering rages.

When the towering rage of students is out of control, like gushing currents, it brings ineffable damage to university property. This does not mean that students around the world do not have grievances – they do, but they have been scripted to deal with their challenges in a humane way.

We have two choices; we must either condemn the actions of these learners, or change their image through mentoring and coaching. The question that comes flooding back is: Were these learners inducted after coming back from the long lockdown period where they were disoriented?

The DBE must introduce an induction programme for both teachers and learners. They must take a leaf out of the mining industry’s book. For example, when you take a week off at the mine, when resuming work you are subjected to an induction process where you are taught about workplace hazards.

The faith-based organisations whose members will be going back to church after the country has been placed under adjusted alert level 2 should also subject their members to an induction process.. There are deeply rooted habits that must be paralysed.

It is time that we stopped using the word learner for those who are studying at high school and substitute it with student. If high school learners are called students, they will look at the landscape of their responsibilities. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the young Juliet asks: “What is in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

The South African Geographical Names Council and spiritual leaders would have said to Shakespeare that names also dictate behaviour.