Bullying (school violence) in Zimbabwean schools: why it happens and what we must do to address this intractable challenge. By Dominic Muntanga

Last week the public spotlight was on bullying after a video showing student-on-student violence at Prince Edward School in Zimbabwe circulated on social media. People were up in arms, with some even calling for the headmaster to be sacked. Christians invoked the often-misinterpreted Proverbs 13:24- spare the rod, spoil the child- in their call for the offending student’s buttocks to be shredded using “shamu inemunyu” or a rod. The social media frenzy has died down, but make no mistake, this will not be the last time we hear about bullying. If we are serious about addressing the many forms of bullying in schools, especially physical violence, we must not just look for who to blame. Citing Proverbs 13:24 will not cut it either! Instead, we must understand why and how school violence happens, and reflect on the evidence on what has worked here or elsewhere as we search for a lasting practical solution. We must also engage rather than stigmatize parents, headmasters, teachers and students. No one ever wins the blame game, and no nation was ever built on blame!

First, things first: we must acknowledge that violence, be it in the form of student-on-student fighting, teacher-on-student fighting, corporal punishment, many forms of bullying, including cyberbullying, has sadly become part of the social and cultural fabric of our schools and communities. Data from the National Baseline Survey of the Life Experiences of Adolescents indicates that 63.9 per cent of females and 76 per cent of males had experienced physical violence by a parent or adult relative before the age of 18 (ZIMSTAT, UNICEF and CCORE, 2011). A total of 12.6 per cent of females and 26.4 per cent of males had been humiliated in front of others before the age of 18. An abundance of evidence shows that all forms of violence against children have a disproportionately negative impact on the health and well-being of the victims and those around them- from increased suicide attempts, unwanted pregnancy, low self-esteem, to substance abuse and poor pass rates in school. This, therefore, is neither a Prince Edward issue alone nor that of poor kids in boarding schools alone.  Other less-visible but equally damaging forms of bullying, including verbal, social and emotional abuse as well as cyber-bullying are also known to happen in private schools with kids from very rich families. For this reason, we must all take collective responsibility because violence affects all of us. Think of it this way: your child may not experience bullying at their school, but they will graduate into a society of victims and perpetrators of violence. Worse still, they may even work with or marry a perpetrator, with serious implications for their physical or psychological wellbeing.

So, why does school violence happen? Research indicates that violence occurs for diverse reasons that are related to   individual and societal factors. Individual factors include substance abuse or the history of abuse at home or at school- those who have experienced violence tend to repeat the cycle of violence. Violence also occurs because bullies fail to regulate their emotions. We all know that one guy or girl, who is always ready, able and willing to engage in physical or verbal abuse at the drop of a hat, even when provoked slightly by mistake. Societal factors include social isolation, famine and disaster-induced tensions, proximity to and acceptability of violence in relationships as well as the cultural acceptance of violence (Morris Stephen C., 2007). As society, we often mythologize and laugh at tall tales of what we or others endured. We talk about how physical bullying in school made us stronger or prepared us for “real life”. We talk about bullying as if it was a Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine: just get a dose of it in school and boom, you are all set to withstand the nastiness of future violence for life! These tales, which often glorify the perpetrators, but without mentioning the negative effects, also make us guilty of normalizing violence as part of the country’s acceptable cultural and social norms. To make matters worse, we pass these tales down from one generation to another as if they were riches. It is not surprising that from schools, violence now extends to society at large and vice versa, in large part because acceptable cultural and social norms are highly influential in shaping individual behaviours. We see and hear of domestic violence, police beatings and shootings in our streets, threats and actual physical fights in our parliament, and beatings and deaths during on political campaign trails. We have even seen violence in our sacred churches and workplaces.

Violence has become so deeply engrained in our society. Here is how we can address it. First, we must change our perspective from seeing violence as the preserve of only cruel or terrible people with some power. Instead, we must look at it from the perspective articulated by Professor Clayton Christensen at Harvard Business School, who believes that when we buy a product, we are essentially hiring it to help us get a job done. For instance, some customers will employ a Merc to get the job of moving from point A to B done while others do so to fulfill the job of gaining popularity, getting attention or projecting a certain status. From this view, perpetrators use school violence to get some job done. As such, children from homes where adults display violent behaviours usually adopt violence as an effective tool to get the job of asserting authority done. Bullies also use violence to get the job of obtaining lunch money or gaining popularity, calling out for attention or the power of having others afraid of them, done.

The natural question that flows from this perspective is whether one would choose violence if there were other options to get their job done. Herein lies part of the solution to this intractable challenge. If violence is a tool, perhaps we can address the challenge by changing the tool box of available options. One effective tool is to equip young people with skills, including emotional intelligence training, to enable them to regulate their emotions, develop a sense of what is right and have empathy for others. We must also help students communicate effectively and express themselves freely. Most of our young people lack communication skills- a tool that could help them understand others and be understood. So, when push comes to shove, they employ blows and insults instead of constructive words. We must teach students about negotiation skills to help them manage conflict effectively. Part of our solution must be to replace the tool of drugs and alcohol, which often serve as a catalyst for school violence, with something that would get the students the same fulfillment that they would otherwise get from substance abuse.

Similarly, we must understand corporal punishment- which is both a cause and consequence of violence- as an ineffective tool that teachers use to get disciplining children-  one of the most difficult jobs- done. Sometimes teachers beat students because they have run out of tools to employ to discipline a student. As such, we must replace corporal punishment with another positive tool for ensuring discipline.  According to journal on Paediatrics and child health (2004) on “Effective discipline for children”, the word discipline means to impart knowledge and skill – to teach. Effective and positive discipline is about teaching and guiding children, not just forcing them to obey through punishment and control. “The goal of effective discipline is to foster acceptable and appropriate behaviour as well as changing unwanted behaviour in the child and to raise emotionally mature adults.” Evidence from numerous countries shows that the talk-not the stick- often works. Emotional intelligence training to help teachers grapple through their emotions positively, has also been proven to work. Instead of teachers “losing it” when a student makes a mistake, they can work through their anger and frustration- not by using “shamu inemunyu” or a rod. If teachers can communicate effectively with students and master their own emotions, this obviates the need for sanctioned violence.  

School violence is an intractable challenge. To solve it, we must resist the Zimbabwean temptation for quick, cathartic, feel good solutions. This problem runs deep and involves families, teachers, Ministry officials, church leaders, learners and society at large. Schools must refocus their energies on changing the culture of violence and bullying, which is sometimes tied to toxic masculinity. Instead of interpreting Proverbs 13:24 to suit our thirst for violent retribution, we can interpret it positively to focus on the key message that it is about discipline and with an appreciation of the historical context that the text refers to a time when Moses uses a rod to split the ocean open and when sheperds used rods to control lost sheep. In practical terms, Prince Edward and other schools must take responsibility for this violence. Then, they must engage everyone, including the offending students and victims. They must allow students to talk about why and how violence happens, then address the underlying causes- some of which will have nothing to do with the school, but the students’ experiences at home. Ultimately, the goal must be to create a safe, secure and positive learning environment. But, this goal must not be imposed on young people but grow out of their full realization of the negative impact of violence. To that end, they must allow students to share their experiences and use thematic learning materials in class to tackle the subject at an intellectual level. The school must not make rallies out of this but be patient for a solution to emerge from the community. It is important for everyone, from matrons, care takers and security guards to parents, teachers, students and even visitors, to be engaged. Anti-violence themes must be integrated into the curriculum, sports, music, and food if they can. The most important thing to understand is that school violence is behavioral, and the solution must lie in changing behaviors as well as the values, social norms and attitudes that underlie those acts. This, my people, will take time!