COLOMBIA:
Violent Society, Violent
Schools
By Helda Martínez
BOGOTA (IPS) - In
a survey carried out in
807 public and private
primary and secondary
schools across the
social spectrum in the
Colombian capital, 56
percent of students said
they had been robbed
within the school
premises.
The study also found
that 2,583 students had
been intimidated or
threatened with
firearms, while 32
percent of the
respondents said they
had been the victims of
physical bullying, being
pinched, slapped,
punched or shoved by
fellow students. In
addition, nine percent
had been threatened with
a beating, and three out
of 10 admitted that they
had engaged in vandalism
in their schools.
The questionnaire was
drawn up by the National
Statistics Department in
conjunction with the
private University of
Los Andes, which carried
out the survey among
students ranging in age
from eight to 22 in
March and April 2006 at
the request of the
Bogotá city government.
However, the results
were not made public
until two weeks ago.
"This is a very serious
situation, which
reflects incidents of
sexual violence,
vandalism and verbal
violence that society
accepts and in many
cases admires," town
councillor Gilma Jiménez
told IPS.
"The results of the
survey are almost
obvious, when violence
has become the chosen
route for solving every
problem," said Javier
Darío Restrepo, a
journalist who
specialises in questions
of professional ethics
and has served as
ombudsman for the El
Tiempo and El Colombiano
newspapers.
"From their earliest
years, children absorb
violence in cartoons and
grow up with a form of
thinking and an attitude
that is in line with
that violence," he told
IPS.
"We don’t foment
tolerance, and today in
Colombia it is virtually
impossible to talk about
politics without going
to extremes," said
Restrepo. "The climate
is highly polarised. The
lack of tolerance is
evident in the
activities of our
leaders and politicians,
who act superior and
arrogant, without
reflection, as media
coverage shows and as
the country observes."
One recent illustration
of this all-pervasive
intolerance was the
criticism levelled by
the speaker of the
Senate, Nancy Patricia
Gutiérrez, at Senator
Piedad Córdoba of the
opposition Liberal Party
for her efforts towards
brokering the release of
hostages held by the
Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC)
guerrillas.
The bad temper of
President Álvaro Uribe
has also been on display
on numerous occasions,
when reporters,
especially foreigners,
question him about his
alleged ties to
far-right paramilitary
groups.
Jorge Noguera, the
former head of the
Administrative Security
Department (DAS),
Colombia’s secret
police, is in prison in
connection with the "para-politics"
scandal, as are 22
legislators.
A total of 51 lawmakers,
most of them Uribe
allies, are under
investigation for their
links with the
paramilitaries.
"Studies on violence in
schools are important
because they help us
make the necessary
adjustments in our work,
but our schools are the
expression of our
society," said Alonso
Camacho, principal of
the José Castro school
in the Bogotá slum
neighbourhood of San
Cristóbal, which has a
student body of 2,750.
High rates of poverty
and unemployment, the
forced displacement of a
large proportion of the
population by the
violence, and the
overall crisis in this
war-torn country
generate domestic
violence, which is in
turn reflected in the
behaviour of students,
he told IPS.
"By law we have to
design standards and
programmes aimed at
keeping the peace in
schools, stay on the
alert in order to
prevent violence by
teachers, and foment
values that can have an
influence on family
relations," said
Camacho. "To do that, we
have the support of
private organisations as
well. But the underlying
social problems
penetrate the walls of
the school."
"We implement student
development plans, but
we do not achieve
immediate results, nor
can we turn kids who are
caught up in difficult
social contexts into
angels," he added.
Restrepo said that
"newscasts always begin
with the latest episodes
of violence, journalists
spend a lot of time in
courtrooms describing
violent incidents and
behaviour, and over 50
percent of the news
involves reports of
violence."
That coverage is carried
out "without
self-criticism by the
media and with no
analysis or questioning
on the part of the
recipients of the news,
while our universities
tend to train people
with more technical
expertise than ethical
values."
The study on violence in
the schools was
commissioned by former
Bogotá mayor Lucho
Garzón (2004-2007) of
the leftwing Alternative
Democratic Pole (PDA).
But the results of the
survey were not reported
until town councillor
Jiménez of the Liberal
Party, a supporter of
former mayor Enrique
Peñalosa, made them
public in mid-March.
Her decision to call
attention to the study
was seen by some critics
as part of an anti-PDA
strategy, after Peñalosa
was defeated in the 2007
elections for mayor by
the leftist party’s
candidate, Samuel
Moreno, who took office
in January.
For her part, Jiménez,
who noted that Moreno’s
campaign manager was
Education Secretary Abel
Rodríguez, said that "I
believe the study was
kept quiet for political
reasons."
"It is impossible to
isolate students from a
society in which there
is a deeply rooted
culture of corruption,
easy money and the
principle of
paramilitarism, which is
to defend oneself from
violence by means of
violence," she said.
"The most atrocious
crimes are those that
are committed against
children, because of
their defencelessness
and vulnerability,"
which is why there is no
justification for having
shelved the results of
the survey, she said.
According to Jiménez,
"we have to take a close
look at what is
happening and try to
come up with formulas
for ‘major surgery’,
with the participation
of parents, teachers,
students and society as
a whole, in order to
safeguard the lives and
integrity of our young
people."
In Colombia, "only
bandaid solutions are
applied when it comes to
anything to do with
children, and we cannot
go on like that," she
argued.
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