Educational experts: the public school environment is unsafe and repellent to education

Al-Anbat  - Shatha Hatamleh

Translated by: Batool Alhajjaj

Educational experts believe that public schools have become an unsafe environment for education and study, and there are many cases of violence, bullying, and bad morals, which in turn impede the educational process. Schools have become vulnerable and dangerous to students and an environment for them. This requires radical solutions to the problems experienced by public schools.

Educational expert Dr. Thouqan Obeidat said that bullying and violence are phenomena found in communities that suffer from diversities, indicating that the diversity in public schools is due to the financial condition of the family and the educational level of the student, in addition to environmental and regional diversities that represent a fertile environment for the increase in cases of bullying and violence in schools.

He added to the "Al-Anbat" that there are many cases of violence and bullying in public schools due to the absence of school control, pointing out that education in public schools does not take into account the diversity among students and that students lack safety in schools, indicating that security breaches in schools have three cases, including bullying. Among the students themselves and teachers bullying students, in addition to some students bullying teachers, especially newcomers or high school teachers.

Obeidat continued, saying that the prevalence of bullying in public schools is due to the weakness of the educational and moral values that schools transmit and their interest in the academic subject only, adding that the absence of educational and rehabilitative programs for students has a major role in the increase in cases of violence and bullying in these schools, noting that private schools have fewer cases of bullying and violence due to the general atmosphere in which students feel safe.

And he indicated that public schools lack a culture of law, and any student who is subjected to violence or bullying is supposed to report it to the teacher or principal, adding that there are many forms of bullying in schools, including physical, regional, religious, and verbal bullying, as it is one of the most common types of bullying in schools where teachers practice Verbal bullying is common in schools.

In the same context, the educational expert, Ahmed Wahdan, explained that the high incidence of bullying and violence in public schools is due to the survival of the laws and regulations currently in force and their failure to update them, which created a gap between ideas and systems, adding that there is injustice to the teacher from a material point of view, and this in turn weakens the teacher's performance and ability to give.

He added that the economic situation and the high cost of living are among the reasons behind the rise in cases of violence and bullying in schools, calling for the need to impose modern laws and move away from imported foreign ideas that contradict the values of Jordanian society.

On the other hand, educational expert Mahmoud Darwish said that there are two types of public schools, one for boys and the other for girls, indicating that public schools for girls are comparable to private schools in terms of a safe school environment and the use of modern teaching strategies that are free from cases of bullying, whereas male government schools suffer more from bullying than female government schools.

He stressed that all primary schools use modern teaching methods, and there are some public schools that use modern teaching methods, but their financial capabilities do not allow the use of modern teaching methods and means, indicating that the location of public schools plays a major role in increasing cases of violence and bullying, where government schools in cities differ from government schools in remote areas.