Exploring the nature, causes and consequences of school-based violence in Cameroon

Abstract

This paper contributes to the controversial literature on the nature, perceptions, causes, social contexts and consequences of school violence in Cameroon. This study adopts the process tracing method that is valuably instrumental in qualitative studies. On the causes of school violence, this study reveals that lack of parental guidance, abusive use of social media, sociocultural factors, poor working conditions of teachers, inadequate number of guidance counsellors in schools, lack of trained discipline masters/mistresses in security-related issues, and rigidity of the educational system to technological advancements constitute the main causes of school violence in Cameroon. On the consequences of school violence, the study reveals that school violence results to: (i) the disruption of the teaching-learning process, which impacts negatively on both the student and teacher’s output, thereby leading to falling educational attainment rates, (ii) psychological, emotional and mental trauma, depression, frustration, perpetual disability and death of the victimized individual (learners, teachers, and school administrators), and this negatively impacts on the educational life of students, (iii) destruction of school property, thereby leading to huge financial burdens on the educational stakeholders, which inevitably weakens existing social ties among students, teachers, parents and the school administration, thereby making it difficult to foster peace within the school environment, (iv) social unrest, high crime wave, school dropout, and loss of lives, which generally constitute an impediment to socioeconomic development of the country. Contingent on these findings, it is apparent that fostering peaceful school environments through the eradication of school violence requires the joint efforts of all education stakeholders (parents, teachers, students, school administrators and educational policymakers). Consequently, there is need for the creation of a National Violence Prevention Council (NVPC) in Cameroon. Besides, several preventive measures for practical policy implications are discussed in the context of this study.