It is common to see some students resort to unusual and unsound - perhaps dangerous – behavior at the end of the school year. Some of them tear up their textbooks while others engage in joyriding or reckless driving. There are yet other groups of students who break the car windows of their teachers or become involved in other misconduct. It is not easy to find objective and logical reasons for such abnormal and dangerous behavior. Some people may attribute it to the way these children were raised at home or to the poor level of their schooling. Recently at Al-Razi school in Tabuk, a group of elementary school students tore up their textbooks and threw them on the street and at pedestrians when they left school after sitting for their end of school examinations. Footage of the incident went viral on social media. As a consequence of this, Minister of Education Ahmed Al-Issa issued orders to relieve the school's principal of his duties and to constitute a committee, headed by Niaz Al-Jabiri, undersecretary at the ministry, to carry out studies about the issue of children tearing up textbooks and to come up with remedial suggestions within two weeks so as to put an end to this phenomenon. What surprised me in the first place was the minister's order to relieve the principal of his duties and at the same time to form a panel to prepare a report containing solutions for the problem. It would have been a logical and reasonable decision if the principal was allowed to remain in his post until the panel had carried out its mission and filed its report, and then to take appropriate disciplinary action against the principal or any other officials in the event of their dereliction of duty or negligence on the basis of the findings of the committee. This is because of the fact that the act of tearing up textbooks took place outside of the school premises. I do not think that anyone would say that the principal or other school officials are supposed to be responsible for monitoring the acts of students outside the school premises after school hours. If we start holding the principal or other officials accountable for such acts, we would be forced to relieve most school principals or other officials of their duties all over the Kingdom. Moreover, those students who have a grudge against any principals or officials would resort to tearing up their textbooks so as to see those officials relieved of their duties for no fault of their own. Perhaps the disgusting sight of textbooks being torn apart and scattered around on the streets has angered the minister, which is why he took a hasty decision to relieve the principal of his duties. Then when he calmed down, he issued another directive to constitute a committee to study the issue. The principal and other officials have nothing to do with such acts that happened outside of the school premises as these do not come under their jurisdiction. A report that appeared on the front page of Okaz newspaper highlighted the comment of the minister of education on the issue of relieving the school principal of his duties. "I did not take a hasty decision on the issue," he said. In the detailed story that appeared on an inside page, the newspaper indicated that the minister ruled out the prospect of his decision being hasty and he also clarified that the decision was taken on the basis of basic information and that there were no doubts about it. One wonders how this is possible in that the school principal was punished for something that was not his fault. As for joyriding and other misconduct, this is the dangerous behavior practiced by some students that sometimes leads to tragedy and disaster. Yet we never hear of action being against any school principal if any of his students are involved in fatal accidents as a result of reckless driving or joyriding after school. Such misconduct of students outside of school after the end of year exams is normally attributed to poor parenting at home, coupled with deficiencies in their schooling. It is the role of academic counselors and community experts to embark on remedial initiatives with regard to poor parenting and schooling. This can only be achieved through close cooperation and rapport between home and school. Have educational counselors adequately addressed the negative behavior common to some students? Such behavior might also be seen among some teachers and this leads to the assumption that there is something wrong with the overall education system. These defects will not be addressed simply by taking the hasty decision to relieve school principals or any other officials of their duties. It requires detailed studies to determine and address the root causes of the problem. Let us hope that the panel, constituted by the minister, will examine the negative behavior of students and prescribe the medication after properly diagnosing the disease. — Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]
