As is her style, Commissioner for Children Sonia Camilleri did not beat about the bush when Church newspaper Il-Gens interviewed her last week.
Asked about what could be done to curb misbehaviour in schools, Ms Camilleri said that there is a need for services that directly help children who have serious behavioural problems. “These are urgent matters but unfortunately it does not appear that this is a priority for the government,” she was reported as saying.
She went on to say that bad behaviour is something that should be condemned, but one should find out what is leading to such misbehaviour and help the children involved. Discipline is important, but the Convention for the Rights of Children stipulates that discipline should be exercised in such a way as to teach children, and not further aggravate the situation.
Ms Camilleri added that one needs to work towards establishing a “discipline of rehabilitation” – special programmes for children who have behavioural problems.
Over the past months there has been a lengthy discussion in the media about children who misbehave, with particular reference to students who attack their teachers in schools. During the last scholastic year, the Malta Union of Teachers resorted to calling for industrial action – with teachers being asked to report to school one hour late on one particular day – after a spate of incidents in schools. At the time, the union said that measures that were being taken against unruly students were not enough.
The situation does not seem to have changed since last March – when the action was taken – because in the first few weeks of the new scholastic year there were other reports of students’ misbehaviour in schools. The MUT, while keeping a close eye on the situation, has so far not given any hint that it is prepared to call for industrial action again.
Ms Camilleri speaks of a need for “a discipline of rehabilitation”, and the government should consider what the Commissioner for Children is saying. But the issue goes beyond that, and one has to see what leads to children behaving badly in the first place.
We all remember the story we were told when we were young – of the boy who stole a sweet and his mother, while smiling at him, telling him to eat it rather than put it back, thereby effectively encouraging him to steal. This story can be transposed to the subject of misbehaving, in the sense that children need to be loved and cared for, but this does not mean that they should be allowed to do what they like.
Parents play a big role in all this, because they are the first “persons of authority” that the children meet and live with. Unless parents exercise some form of discipline and earn the respect they ought to have from their children, then it is hard to expect these same children to show respect in the outside world – first with their teachers and football coaches and later on in life with other people in authority.
Of course, there are different forms of discipline, and we are in no way advocating severe punishment or physical abuse, firstly because it would be wrong to do so and secondly because this could have the adverse effect. But children need to learn to behave, and sometimes they need to learn the hard way to understand that they must observe the rules and regulations that make up our society.
All parents know how difficult it is to raise children and the sacrifices they have to make to do so properly. But it is not enough to help them with their homework, buy all the clothes they need, take them to football training or dance classes, and shower them with presents for their birthday and at Christmas.
It is equally important to raise children properly by teaching them what is right and what is wrong, and although this may be subjective, the golden rule is that children should learn to respect the people who surround them.