Commentary

The decline of a school

TODAY'S STORY ON Calabar High is sure to elicit the usual 'tut-tuts' and headshakes, shock and dismay.

However, the knee-jerk reactions do not lead to a solution. That requires thought and a hard, honest look at what the situation is and then implementation of a plan to get the school on the path that it should be on.

The first is to recognise that the school's administration cannot be held responsible for all the students do. It is very heartening that the police can report that members of the community made the reports of gambling to them.

It does, though, raise a question about how much control the school's administration has of the institution. It is a question which the entire story raises, actually. This link in the chain of control is, needless to say, crucial. It must be addressed.

Based on the story in today's newspaper, the parents are interested in the welfare of their sons - at least, those who have children who have been hurt have taken the initiative to report the matter to the police themselves, not waiting on the school. That is a good sign.

We need, however, to put the situation at Calabar in the context of a society that is in a general state of indiscipline. The schools that are in Kingston will naturally be more susceptible to the outside environment being brought into the schoolyard and classroom, Calabar being no exception.

It is good that the police are keeping an eye of Calabar, but there needs to be a look at its athletics programmes. Calabar is a noted athletic powerhouse, but boys do not go to school to run, they go to learn. If an athletics programme does not support the general level of discipline, it makes no sense to have green and black flags waving at the National Stadium and mourning on Red Hills Road as another student is hurt.