Borneo Post
by Peter Boon February 26, 2010, Friday
SIBU: Too much television is exerting bad influences on students causing them to mimic the violent actions there, said Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU) president William Ghani Bina.He said uncontrolled viewing of television particularly involving violent scenes could confuse students with what had been taught inside the school gates, and could eventually lead to more pressing social ills.
“Parental guidance is imperative as students lack the maturity to differentiate the good from the bad,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday when asked about intervention programmes to curb violence in schools following another reported fighting incident that shocked the public.
“As a result, they copy or follow the behaviour blindly unaware of the negative consequences associated with such actions,” he quipped.
In the unfortunate incident, the Form 2 student of a secondary school in Limbang alleged that he had been punched and kicked by a group of schoolmates.
Weeks earlier, a 14-year-old student in Kuching suffered the same fate due to an unprovoked attack.
The victim claimed he did not know who assaulted him, smashing his head against a table.
In response to these incidents, Ghani urged parents to devote more time to their children so that they could be more alert on any change of behaviour.
As a starting point, this would require parents to follow closely the type of television programmes their children were watching.
Ghani added: “Parents must intervene or provide guidance when certain programmes were found containing scenes not suitable for their children viewing.”
Citing an example, he pointed out that fighting scenes could corrupt students’ mind, motivating them to unconsciously engage in such aggressive behaviour.
As such, the onus is on the parents to keep close tabs on their children’s television programmes, which means spending more time with them (their children), he reiterated.
Ghani also appealed to the relevant authority to avoid screening movies with fighting scenes during daytime.
On the contrary, they can perhaps roll out more light programmes preferably with educational values to suit the young viewers, he suggested.
The president advised parents among other things, to emphasise on moral or religious education at home to help their children shy away from bad influences.
Again, this requires parents to spend more quality time with their children, he said.
Reinforced with such education and mental conditioning, students, he reckoned, would think twice about doing anything foolish.
They will not easily submit to their impulse, he said.
Towards this end, he hoped parents would have a more holistic view of the situation whenever an ugly incident cropped out.
This, he said was to be fair to the teachers, who were equally concerned about the safety and well being of their students.
“The way I see it, pointing fingers will not solve the problem and if not careful, could aggravate it.
“The thing is, the safety and well-being of students is a collective effort of both parents and teachers,” he stressed.
SIBU: Too much television is exerting bad influences on students causing them to mimic the violent actions there, said Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU) president William Ghani Bina.He said uncontrolled viewing of television particularly involving violent scenes could confuse students with what had been taught inside the school gates, and could eventually lead to more pressing social ills.
“Parental guidance is imperative as students lack the maturity to differentiate the good from the bad,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday when asked about intervention programmes to curb violence in schools following another reported fighting incident that shocked the public.
“As a result, they copy or follow the behaviour blindly unaware of the negative consequences associated with such actions,” he quipped.
In the unfortunate incident, the Form 2 student of a secondary school in Limbang alleged that he had been punched and kicked by a group of schoolmates.
Weeks earlier, a 14-year-old student in Kuching suffered the same fate due to an unprovoked attack.
The victim claimed he did not know who assaulted him, smashing his head against a table.
In response to these incidents, Ghani urged parents to devote more time to their children so that they could be more alert on any change of behaviour.
As a starting point, this would require parents to follow closely the type of television programmes their children were watching.
Ghani added: “Parents must intervene or provide guidance when certain programmes were found containing scenes not suitable for their children viewing.”
Citing an example, he pointed out that fighting scenes could corrupt students’ mind, motivating them to unconsciously engage in such aggressive behaviour.
As such, the onus is on the parents to keep close tabs on their children’s television programmes, which means spending more time with them (their children), he reiterated.
Ghani also appealed to the relevant authority to avoid screening movies with fighting scenes during daytime.
On the contrary, they can perhaps roll out more light programmes preferably with educational values to suit the young viewers, he suggested.
The president advised parents among other things, to emphasise on moral or religious education at home to help their children shy away from bad influences.
Again, this requires parents to spend more quality time with their children, he said.
Reinforced with such education and mental conditioning, students, he reckoned, would think twice about doing anything foolish.
They will not easily submit to their impulse, he said.
Towards this end, he hoped parents would have a more holistic view of the situation whenever an ugly incident cropped out.
This, he said was to be fair to the teachers, who were equally concerned about the safety and well being of their students.
“The way I see it, pointing fingers will not solve the problem and if not careful, could aggravate it.
“The thing is, the safety and well-being of students is a collective effort of both parents and teachers,” he stressed.
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