STUDENTS DRUNK IN SCHOOL HOURS

Editorial Post Courier 12 August 2011

Eight students from various schools in Port Moresby got into trouble with the police for causing disturbance under the influence of liquor.

Three boys and five girls were supposed to be in class but went on a drinking spree that started at 7.00am. Police were called in by the public disgusted by their behaviour. Now they are in the Boroko police cells charged with consuming alcohol in public.

We do not know how their parents will react when they find them in the cells with the rest of the rough crowd that occupy such a place.

This is not the first time students have got into trouble over abuse of alcohol. Police, teachers and parents have expressed concern that consumption of illicit drugs and alcohol among students is getting worse.

It is common knowledge that abuse of alcohol among students takes place all around the country. PNG is sitting on a big problem. What can the country do to stop this behaviour.

Parents need to exercise more control over their children and make sure they do not get into such situations. It will take more than parents to stop their children. Children have to understand that their future is in their hands.

Parents are working very hard and doing the right thing by putting them in school and providing money daily for bus fares and lunch. If the students decide to buy alcohol, the decision is theirs. They are the ones to suffer the consequences.

They are teenagers, big boys and girls who must learn to take charge of their own lives. What sort of people are the schools trying to groom? This is the question that the Department of Education and schools should ask themselves.

The Department has a responsibility to develop young people so that they come out with sound mind and body. The right environment must be created.

Schools must put in place tough rules to enforce discipline and good behaviour among students. Any student consuming alcohol and drugs either on the school grounds or outside must be expelled. There must be no mercy.

COMMENT:  Schools have to prepare students by a focus on the responsibilities that accompany rights. Students need to learn that the focus of their lives is their parents who send them to school. Students and parents have rights and responsibilities.

We read that corporal punishment should be brought back. There is a far more effective approach. When a child breaches school rules, there should be an interview with the Headmaster and class patron. A letter is given to the student with a copy on file.

If there is further breach of school rules, there is a further interview with a copy given to the parents. The letter goes home with the student. It may be that the letter is thrown away.

If there is a further breach and parents have not come, the student is suspended and the letter signed by the student and placed on file. With a  final breach after the second warning, the student is expelled with the letter signed by the student and placed on file.

If the breach is serious and causing problems for the school, the student is expelled immediately with the letter signed by the student and placed on file ready for the parents who will come. A report is prepared setting out the facts of the matter.

Foreign advisors are encouraging the young people to forget the responsibilities they have to self, parents, family, school and community.

Wait till students read of what has happened in London, Manchester and Philadelphia and decide that they should start looting shops. Foreign advisors are supporting community chaos.