Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Bahrain has recently witnessed an increase in violence stemming from angry children at their schools.
Just last week, high school students started an angry protest and caused havoc and vandalism.
In reaction to such events, the Ministry of Education is suggesting a 'zero tolerance' rule whereby if a student is found to have participated in any kind of 'violence' at his or her school, the school has every right to expel them.
However, it does not stop there, the zero tolerance rule may also enable the ministry to ban the student from attending any other school on the island.
I am all for protecting the safety and regulations of schools, but really the rule the ministry wants to enforce is hasty and is based more on the emotions felt at what has happened recently than on reasonable substantial points.
If this rule does go to full implementation, where are the procedures and protocols that should be followed? At least the benefit of the doubt must be given to students and a panel investigation must be carried out before any act of such discipline is taken.
Do not get me wrong, what the students during the past weeks have done is both atrocious and disgusting, but let us not act too hastily in the treatment of such students.
I agree that education in general is a privilege rather than a necessity in anyone's life, but there are other means of dealing with situations such as these.
Let us go back to basics and review why such students act in such a violent and disruptive way. Have we raised a generation of children whose only means of reacting to their emotions and anger is through violence? I certainly hope not!
