BRAZIL: Violence in Schools – ‘Most Fights Are Between Girls’

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 3 2004 (IPS) - Marcela, an 18-year-old high school student in this Brazilian city, told IPS that most of the fistfights and shouting matches these days in her school are between girls.

That is borne out by recent studies that show that violence among girls is on the rise in schools in Brazil.

”The change (among female students) in the past two years is incredible,” sociologist Miriam Abramovai, who presented a study on the phenomenon at the Apr. 28-29 Ibero-American Congress on Violence in Schools held in Brasilia, the capital, said in an interview with IPS.

Girls today ”react aggressively and fight a lot, generally over boyfriends,” said Abramovai, who took part two years ago in a study on the violence surrounding schools and now participated in a survey on violence within educational institutions.

In the report, ”Victimisation in Schools”, 83.4 percent of of the 12,312 students surveyed in five state capitals in Brazil mentioned violent incidents or signs of violence in their schools.

Theft was the most frequently mentioned phenomenon. In addition, 12.1 percent said they had seen fellow students carrying pistols in school, and a larger proportion said they had seen jack knives.

She said a teenage girl was badly hurt in a recent fight in her school involving ”punches and scratching” triggered by jealousy over a boyfriend.

But this year, the school, which has a student body of around 1,000 and is located in a middle-class neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro but attended by many youngsters from nearby ‘favelas’ (shantytowns), is calm in comparison to last year, said Marcela.

In another school, a teenage boy who was badly beaten by a classmate ”fainted and had to be hospitalised, and the police came,” she said. The beating had occurred because the victim had ”bothered” the aggressor’s sister.

But Marcela said she has seen even worse incidents of violence, because she lives in Rocinha, the favela where 12 people were killed three weeks ago in shootouts between rival drug trafficking gangs involved in a turf war, and between the gangs and police.

The presence of youth gangs is one of the reasons underlying school violence in Brazil and other Latin American countries, according to Abramovai, a professor at the Catholic University in Brasilia.

School is ”contaminated” by the external environment of crime and drug trafficking, but the violence ”is also generated within the schools, in disrespectful relationships among students, and between teachers and students,” she said.

There is a lack of dialogue and democracy in teaching, said Abramovai, who added that teachers do not always treat students with respect, and sometimes even inflict psychological damage.

One example of that is Marcela’s sister. One of her teachers calls her ‘witch’ because her name is reminiscent of a character from ancient history who had evil powers. Of course, her classmates follow the teacher’s example, said Marcela, and the painful nickname has stuck.

Another teacher, she said, is a well-known drug addict, and sometimes even comes to work under the influence. Complaining of double standards, she pointed out that several students were kicked out of school after they were found smoking marijuana.

All of that contributes to the poor quality of education, and combating violence through joint efforts by government bodies and society must be a priority of public policies, concluded experts from several countries who took part in the Ibero-American Congress.

The meeting was preparatory to a global congress on violence in schools to take place next year in Brazil, although the specific date and place have not yet been set.

Under the administration of Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s Education Ministry decided to expand a programme implemented in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which has led to a significant reduction in school violence in seven of Brazil’s 27 states.

The programme, ‘Making Room: Education and Culture for Peace’, consists of encouraging community participation in weekend sports, cultural and recreational activities offered in public schools.

Incidents of vandalism in participating schools have decreased, there are fewer conflicts between students, and parents participate more in their children’s education.

So far, 7,000 schools have joined in the programme, at a cost of 3.50 reals (1.20 dollars) a month per person – far less than the cost of the damages that were prevented, according to Jorge Werthein, UNESCO representative in Brazil.