Girls' High School Incident
Strange and condemnable is the incident that occurred in one of the girls’ schools, not boys’ schools, and this is what makes it peculiar: female students assaulted their classmates, possibly even in the same classroom. Even more alarming is that several female teachers were not spared from this assault; their aim was to stop what was happening, yet they were subjected to harsh treatment by the attacking students, without any respect for them. This incident is not something we can simply dismiss and file away in the archives of memory. Rather, it was an act that led to the suffocation of one of the attackers, stemming from a dispute among the students. Some of them ambushed others by bringing a harmful substance and spraying it on them, causing the victims to suffocate and necessitating their urgent transfer to the hospital, as reported in an audio clip apparently released by one of the teachers.
The ambush occurred, and several students were harmed. This implies premeditation and intent to commit the act, without regard for the consequences, the location, the victims, or even the nature of the relationships among students in the same school, or the nature of the substance used. All these factors raise the most important question: Why did these students, who are expected to maintain good relations and avoid fleeting disputes that quickly end in reconciliation, behave in such an unhealthy manner, culminating in what is deeply repulsive?
Every school has an administration that holds all the reins of daily control over the teaching staff, students, and administrative personnel within it. Therefore, the administration is responsible for what happened, in terms of supervision, guidance, deterrence, and accountability. The incident cannot be treated with leniency, especially in a girls’ school. It represents irresponsible behavior by some students toward others, where reconciliation should have been the norm instead of persisting in hostility and assaulting others with a substance that could have been fatal. Here lies the importance of imposing deterrent accountability on anyone who might be tempted to repeat such an act in another school, God forbid, in order to preserve the reputation of schools and protect the lives of our children.
When the late Khaled Al-Masoud assumed the position of Minister of Education in the third cabinet formation in 1964, he issued a bold decision at the time to remove the word “Education” from the ministry’s name, restricting it to “Ministry of Pedagogy” (Tarbiya), which remains its name to this day. He was convinced that pedagogy (moral and character education) creates true education, whereas education alone may not necessarily foster a student’s moral development. This incident at that school confirms this view: had pedagogy been present, such an event and its repercussions would not have occurred.
Long may you live.
Yousef Al-Shahab
