The burgeoning rate of moral decadence in our secondary schools has not only seized the attention of many observers but has also birthed the unavoidable question of if our secondary schools are becoming training grounds for fighters, bandits, gangsters, and porn stars.
These questions are certainly born from videos circulating on social media, exposing unacceptable scenes of students smoking in class, fighting a teacher, exchanging blows and kicks among themselves, having sexual intercourse in class with their uniforms on, or threatening their teachers and peers with either a knife or a machete.
The scenes portrayed by the videos have left many to wonder as to what could have happened to our secondary schools that used to be a foundation for discipline, moral rectitude, and love for one another.
While many are lost as to who should be attributed the blame for such despicable acts perpetrated by our students, some fingers have been pointed at the government, parents, and teachers.
Due to the desire for a change, I embarked on research aimed at knowing why the fingers are pointing towards these directions.
Beginning with the government, the blame attributed to the government stems from its numerous press releases, particularly from the minister of secondary education, especially the 16 January 2023 press release from the minister, which banned corporal punishment in secondary schools.
Early that same year, the same minister had authorised pregnant students to attend classes. Though the minister invoked article 35 of law no. 98/004 of 14th April 1998, which lays down guidelines for education in Cameroon, many are of the opinion that this action is the bedrock of the upsurge of moral decadence in our secondary schools, because corporal punishment is the paramount form of discipline that is sustaining many leaders today.
The cane has structured many leaders, and as per African tradition, the cane has always been the most effective discipline master that consciously and unconsciously drives the wheel of discipline towards the minds of many children. Now that the cane has been prohibited, indiscipline and disorganisation cannot help but creep into our schools.
On the other hand, allowing pregnant students in class is a subtle way of advertising and encouraging sexual intercourse. As the naive pregnant student is induced to explain to her peers how she got pregnant, these explanations do nothing more than whet the appetite of the other students towards having sexual intercourse.
This, in particular, accounts for some cases of students having sexual intercourse in class. The majority of these students are inquisitive to the point where they can even lure her with gifts just so she can explain how the process of sexual intercourse is done.
These explanations leave admirable images and scenes in the minds of these innocent students who will attempt to manifest it with their peers.
Though we are pleading with the government to revise the prohibition or ban decision, we do not think the government's action is solely responsible for this. Let's look at those of parents and teachers.
Talking about the contributions of parents to the increase in moral decadence among secondary school students, lack of family planning and unwanted pregnancy, poverty, and busyness are the main contributions of parents to this act.
Unwanted pregnancy has made many young girls of 15 years give birth to children they cannot train. Since they cannot train these toddlers, they are left at the mercy of what they see and hear on the streets and social media.
The fact that most of these young mothers live in streets crowded by irresponsible boys and girls means their young child will have more than enough immoral and negative information that will penetrate his/her eyes and ears.
The child grows up with these images of boys and girls kissing and romancing randomly. The child grows up with such an aphrodisiac appetite. Again, the baby mama syndrome that has affected our nation is another huge contributing factor, as many girls are impregnated by irresponsible boys and men, who abandon them to the option of advanced prostitution called hookup to cater for the child.
While she brings men to make love to her, the child sees it and will certainly grow with the images, which will be practiced with the slightest opportunity given. Poverty and lack of family planning is another factor.
Before the 21st century, people got a job before finding a partner, and they ensured they were financially stable before bringing forth a child.
But this is not the case in the 21st century, where boys and girls who cannot even feed themselves or rent a studio or an apartment hurry and have sexual intercourse while patching in a single room.
In this single room where the child is born, they quarrel, fight with weapons, and make love at night, before the watchful eyes of the child.
The child who has seen his irresponsible parents fight with weapons sees it as a normal style of life and will not hesitate to practice it in school. This accounts for the reasons we find students coming to class with weapons.
Finally, on this point, busyness on the part of some parents who are workers has contributed enormously to the grandiosity of moral decadence in our schools. These parents leave the house in the morning and come back at night.
They don't have the time to monitor or control what the child hears, sees, says, and does. As a result, the child is left in the hands of romantic movies on TV and naked pictures and videos on social media.
This plays in the memory of the child, who will not hesitate to practice it with a peer at the slightest opportunity. What about the blame of the teachers?
The blame of the teachers stems from the fact that many schools, particularly the private schools, are in the business of recruiting university graduates who have no pedagogic training.
These young graduates who clandestinely flood the teaching field due to lack of employment options do their job with ignorance of educational rudiments.
They abandon the traditional skills used in teaching and make the students abreast of social media teaching methods and concepts.
It's common, as seen on videos circulating on social media, to hear teachers asking students to sing romantic songs they know best. It's also ubiquitous to find young and slay queen and king teachers asking the students to tell who is the most handsome boy or the most beautiful girl in class.
It's a pity that they commence doing so right at the level of primary school. These pupils germinate these concepts in their minds and advance to secondary school with them and will certainly corroborate it with what they watch on TV and social media.
This is how these pupils who graduate to secondary schools began developing the appetite to practice what they have heard from their teachers or have watched on TV or social media. In addition, most of the young teachers dress in a sexually appealing way, especially the female teachers.
These sexual attires appeal to their memory of the naked pictures and videos they have watched, and the consequence will be nothing short of a fertilisation of their sexual appetite, which will lead to practice at the slightest push.
Though it's difficult to stop these happenings due to the time, we strongly believe it can be reduced by recommending the minister revise her decision; parents should be advised to create time and regulate what their children hear, watch, and do.
Proprietors should recruit mature graduates and enlighten them on pedagogic rules. If these is done, the blame can now shift to modernity or the end time, but for now, the above persons have the blame.
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Marks Abaiko
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