SPEECH BY MOHAMMED SADIKU DABO AT THE RECENTLY CONCLUDED COBA UK & I DINNER AND DANCE

Guest Speaker: Mohammed Sadiku Dabo

Good evening, my dear honoured guests and esteemed colleagues of COBA UK&I all gathered here tonight to participate in our gorgeous annual fund raising event. An event that seeks to entertain you but also to appeal to your charitable instincts and your generosity to contribute towards raising funds to drive up  the standards of the education of the students of our alma mater Christ the King College in Bo Sierra Leone. By so doing you will help us  inject some motivation and momentum into the educational achievements of our very ambitious students. With your kind and generous support, we will be able to nurture tomorrow’s leaders to be the best they can be and equip them with the best  skills available. Thereby enabling students to believe in their ability to achieve their fullest potential – which to me should be highest limits of the cosmos. Only you gathered here tonight are capable of supporting us to achieve that massive goal. Believe you me we have found all these years that you, our guests and our sponsors, are so dependable that we can count on your compassion, generosity and wholehearted commitment to our worthy cause to help us out every time. 

Those were the opening remarks, ladies and gentlemen. And now to the speech proper.

Before starting my actual address to this august assembly please permit me to make a sincere apology. I need to promise you one thing and one thing only. And for that I have to humbly ask you kindly to accept my sincerest apologies. The reason for this humble request for an acceptance of my sincere apology is because I am sure I am going to let you all down big time tonight, and when I say big time I mean big time. 

How am I going to let you down? It is by making you aware right from the onset that I am not going to be able to follow the trend or convention set by some – not all – of our previous guest or keynote speakers to deliver a very long speech. I have to be honest, I am incapable of that. Because unlike others I fervently believe in the words Shakespeare put in the mouth of his fictional Character Polonius In his famous play entitled Hamlet: that ‘Brevity is the soul of wit’. And, of course, I would also like to borrow the words uttered by a former Senior prefect of CKC and now a very prominent national and international statesman in the country who compared the delivery of a long speech to the extraction of a bad tooth: the longer it takes, he says, the more it hurts. If you have ever paid a visit to the dentist recently you will see what I mean. I have so much sympathy for you all my lovely countrymen that I dare not put you through that ordeal. This makes  my address a significant departure from the norm which has seen a few of our previous keynote speakers spend the whole night addressing us and would choose to ignore the impatience and restlessness generated by their overly elongated presentation.   

My address today will focus on education and its impact on the achievement of peace in our community. I will also examine how the valuable education we acquired from our beloved alma mater as well as the values and virtues we learnt at this noble institution is meant to influence and inform our journey through this world and our relationship not only with each other but with our wider community. It was clearly designed to help us live peacefully and amicably with each other. By so doing we are fulfilling the biggest commandment of our patron saint: Christ the King. When he was asked what was the greatest commandment: He responded by saying: ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’’ Have we imbibed that virtue? It does not appear as if some do apply this in our interaction with each other.  We fail to apply that magic word R-E-S-P-E-C-T. 

An education by definition is "the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for a mature life and the life outside the four walls of the classroom and more importantly how you interact with your fellow man."  

It is evident that many of us went through that enviable institution of Christ the King College but we have to admit that Christ the King College has not gone through all of us. That is the poignant but bitter truth that we have not acquired the values of the school. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to be humble. He who humbles himself, he says,  shall be exalted and he who exalts himself shall be humbled. Arrogance is an expression of limited education which never translates  into peace among men. 

The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in the Gospel of St John Chapter 13: verses 13:–17: If I then your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet for I have given as an example. A significant example of how to promote peace. 

Surely there cannot be a better example of humility than that. But how many of us for the sake of peace would go as far as to demonstrate such humility. How many of us forgive our brother seventy times seven as the holy book admonishes us to do? How many of us would be struck on one cheek and be prepared to turn the other cheek? This is what our education at that great institution teaches us for the purpose of spreading peace among us and to the world. 

Education does not imply only the acquisition of knowledge for the sake of knowledge or for the purpose of self-aggrandisement. If your knowledge/education does not encourage you to promote peace, solidarity, empathy, compassion and humanity then you need to take a good look at yourself and consider whether it is the right education you have acquired or whether you are in fact educated in the true sense of the word. 

That great educationist the renowned Plato said “Better unborn than untaught. And better untaught than ill-taught for ignorance is the root of misfortune. 

If your education does not promote love, respect, compassion and cohesion in your community and your interaction with your fellow man or woman then you have to recalibrate your ideas and evaluate what it’s worth. 

The education we acquired from Christ the King College (that Royal college) and later expanded and consolidated at our tertiary educational institutions was meant to teach us values of respect, understanding, humility, tolerance, justice and nonviolence and the quest for greater knowledge that will benefit not only ourselves but our community. 

It was meant to provide us with the intellectual acumen to analyse how to avoid conflict through respecting and valuing our fellow human being. 

It is meant to help us lead in the creation of a democratic and participatory environment where we value and respect each other. An education which provides us the skills to model kindness, empathy and collaboration thereby making others believe beyond every reasonable doubt that they can function amicably within our midst without fear of condemnation or violent physical or verbal confrontation, where we all become our brothers’ or sisters’ keepers and are always there to support each other in times of need. That is what our patron Saint Jesus Christ taught us in both his life and his teachings. He was never ever confrontational and even when he was provoked he found diplomatic methods to deal with it and by so doing retained the respect of all parties and avoided conflict at all cost 

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A morally educated person feels a concern for the needs, feelings, emotions, wellbeing and desires of other persons as one has for one's own. One who in other words has an emotional commitment to others, that is, realises that others' feelings are as important as one's own and so commits themselves to promoting justice and fairness. 

A truly educated person is one who is kind and who respects all those around him, both outside and within their family. A person who knows how to listen and say what is appropriate when and where he or she is. 

According to one of our greatest idols Nelson Mandella:  Education is the Most powerful weapon to change the world and change the course of history.  

He recognised that true freedom and equality could only be achieved by investing in the minds of the youth. Mandela’s vision for education went beyond acquiring knowledge and believed it encompassed instilling values of tolerance, empathy, and inclusivity. He demonstrated his peaceful nature by forgiving all who wronged him for the sake of peace and he bore no grudges. 

We owe it to the world and to posterity to seek knowledge and seek peace otherwise we will be letting down generations yet unborn. Please please let us be the promoters of fairness, justice, accountability, tolerance, compassion and respect for our fellow human being. 

I fervently believe that  without putting into practice the education and the values we acquired from Christ the King College, most of us would not even know the meaning of peace. If we insist on sowing the seeds of chaos, discord, division and disaffection we are not following or practising the learning we acquired  at our College of Christ the King. So as long as we learn and devote ourselves and our time to the pursuit of peace, harmony and inclusivity, we will be peaceful in mind body and soul.   

Aristotle said “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet” so let us drink deep and lustily in that well of knowledge to achieve piece of mind and soul and community cohesion. Let us all seek and encourage all and sundry to eat lustily of those sweet fruits. We must  all agree that this sweetness can only be realised if you express it to the benefit of others through valuing them for what they are and not believing that you are above the rest and being so arrogant in believing that whatever you say or do is irrefutable and sacrosanct and cannot be challenged.

EDUCATION MAKES US BELIEVE WE ARE  ALL EQUAL AND MUST WORK OUR HARDEST TO PROMOTE PEACE AMONG US ALL BY BEING HUMBLE AND RESPETFUL, COMPASSIONATE AND TOLERANT OF EACH OTHER. 

 PLEASE STAND UP AND JOIN ME IN A VERY SHORT PRAYER FOR PEACE: 

Almighty Lord we all stand to acknowledge your might and omnipotence. You are the giver and the taker. Come into the hearts of all of us Members of the Christ the King College Old Boys and Girls association COBA all over the world and sow the seeds of unity, pride, ambition, tolerance and respect for each other and bring us to realise that you are the almighty healer and provider of all things. 

We are fully aware that you will never deny us what we need and what we ask for. 

Come into our hearts and increase our urge and our desire for peace all around the world and in our country and wherever we are living AMEN 

Shower us with respect for our fellow man and fill our hearts with compassion. 

Increase our tolerance and love for each other Almighty God and forever keep us at peace with each other and strengthen that bond that makes us all human so that we recognise your fundamental teaching to Love your neighbour as yourself. 

This we ask in your almighty and holy name, AMEN! 

The speech is ended go forth and spread the word of peace.

Guest Speaker: 

MOHAMMED SADIKU DABO

NEW YEAR MESSAGE: From the Desk of the Global Incarnator Online News

Author: Prince Foday

Opening Message

We live in a broken world and happen to face cracks beyond the imagination of the rational being. One could sometimes tend to ask, where the problem lies and how can we collectively fix it? There is the need to focus on long-standing cracks in the world, so as to find solutions on the way forward. We as individuals have our responsibilities to the societies we live in and it is time to reflect on the need to distribute our services between paid work and voluntary work. We are obliged to perform our individual social responsibilities (ISR) to communities we happen to find ourselves. Businesses, whether private or public, are bound to respond to their corporate social responsibilities (CSR). The ISR and CSR have become a global call for individuals and enterprises. Furthermore, we happen to find ourselves in societies where there are demarcations between evil, good and evil-good. It is time for individuals, households, businesses and nations to be sensitive about their actions toward the path of evil, good and evil-good. We need our nations to grow and many may not have the resources to achieve their goals, thereby, leading to the tapping of donor funds. Domestic and international well-wishers are meant to intervene to assist striving nations to grow. Donors would want to have value for their generous help and they expect their material and financial assistance to be used for the right purpose. It is indisputable that donor funds are required to be administered but the concern should be about the ratio of funds used between the administration and the actual purpose of the funds. This is where we need an independent satellite body to follow the use of donor funds. Nations need independent presidential advisory volunteers to provide advisory services to leaders apart from the conventional advisory body appointed by national leaders.   

The Broken World: Raising the Burning Issues

The world we live in is perceived to be broken due to melting factors like terrorism, the environment, politics, the economy and social issues. Before unfolding the issue of terrorism, it would be a great thing to take the first step in trying to understand its meaning. According to The Chambers Dictionary (12^th Edition), terrorism is an organised system of violence and intimidation. The key words enshrined in the meaning of terrorism are derived from the chambers dictionary and they are violence and intimidation. The second step is to identify the internal and external sources of terrorism. Internal sources of terrorism are from national politics, the domestically aggrieved, domestic organised crime, race and ethnicity, religion, academic and professional, household and corporate. External sources of terrorism are state-to-state, international organised crime, race, religious clash, the aggrieved deportee and other international grievances. The Third step is to know the effects of terrorism (both positive and negative) and they are death, insanity, increasing migration to safe havens, population pressure and increasing demand for domestic goods, economic inequality, brain drain, trauma and psychological torture. The environment is another contributing factor to our broken world. The actions of human beings and corporate houses have led to challenging moments for our environment. We can see the impact of this all over the world. The global experiences of flooding, alarming health risk fuelled by pollution of the air and the global deforestation that is minimising the oxygen that humans are supposed to extract from plants for their well-being are issues that are of utmost concern. Domestic and global politics are part of the factors contributing to our broken world. It is becoming clear that weak and unfair policies domestically and from international economic integrations continue to widen the cracks the more. Furthermore, the harsh countervailing power from political competitions at domestic and international levels is an added issue resulting in the broken world we face. The world is further faced with fluid economic factors like increasing unemployment, rising prices of goods and services, widening the gap between the rich and poor and widening economic inequalities between rich and poor nations. More even, are other social issues like an increasing rate of homelessness and vulnerability in our global society, an incremental rate of anti-social behaviour and other social issues have added effects on our broken world.

Gossips from the Global Baobab Tree

One of the gossips gathered from the global Baobab tree is on terrorism. The bubble from this reveals that in the past the world was experiencing reasonable peace until the initiation of the gulf war, the war in Iraq, Syria, Libya and other wars around the globe, and the uprising in other parts of the world. These wars and uprising had generated hate, sparked an increase in terrorism around the world, led to increasing migration around the world, tightened the knots on migration in developed nations, brewed grievances from deportees or failed asylum seekers, led to increasing insanity and vulnerability and their exposition to be used by terror cells. There is gossip on organised crime by some pharmaceutical companies inventing viruses and spreading it around the world so as to promote their business by manufacturing the cure. Further gossips include powerful states using their might to make creeping nations to permanently crawl economically, socially and politically. More still, is the gossip on politics of nations orchestrating killer groups or plans to get rid of anyone on their way or opposing their weak governance style.

Individual and Corporate Social Responsibilities: Breaking the York

As individuals, we have implied obligations to our communities. Although we all are looking for paid jobs, it is the ideal thing to do to commit some hours per week of voluntary or unpaid services to our communities. There are many organisations out there that you can channel your voluntary services to and the advent of internet services has made it simple for us to Google and find where the different outlets for voluntary services are. As John F. Kennedy rightly spelt-out, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. It is time to screen ourselves on what we have done or done for our communities and the focus on paid services should not only be the case. I suggest that we think in line with the principle of self-reliance to complement the development efforts of our governments through the establishment of own organisations but ensuring that you work in partnership with others. Remember, the increasing number of members in the partnership will pull more resources and talents together. Our communities can develop the more if we all try to put hands on deck and having that services share ratio between paid work and unpaid work. I definitely know we have bills to pay and save to meet unforeseen contingencies. However, we have to consider the need to do voluntary or unpaid services to our communities. At a corporate level, there are responsibilities to be done to the communities where these corporate houses operate. An organisation (that is any institution or body established for either making profit or non-profit-making) has obligations to the area where it is launched. Organisations operating in any of the communities can gain from that area in many ways such as the people in the community it uses as employees and other resources used as inputs for their outputs of goods and services, the consumers of their goods and services in that area, the pollution and noise they create through their machines, vehicles and employees.

Evil, Good And Evil-Good: Where Do You Belong?

The world is stratified in such a way that we have three sets of groups, which is the evil group, a good group and the evil-good group. The evil group threads on destroying individuals and the very fabric of society, desires nothing good for anyone, selfish and generally have a negative outlook about people and life. The good group are focused on building the social fabric of society, yearns for progress for everyone and have a positive outlook about people and life. The evil-good group comprise of those that are indecisive and their actions are a mixture of the ingredients of evil and good that were raised. An explanation of a venn diagram on their behaviours clearly shows that the evil group is strictly evil; the good group is strictly good but the evil-good group is where the common elements or common ground lies between evil and good. It is a great thing for us all to do by screening ourselves as to where we all belong or want to belong, reflect on our actions and evaluate ourselves whether we are on the right path of what is enshrined in the Bible and Quran scriptures. For those that had chosen the evil group and evil-good group, I will suggest a rethink of the decision and reflect on the negative implications of being out of the feasible region of God’s behavioural expectations of mankind.

INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY VOLUNTEERS (IPAV): A Potential Force for National Leaders to Reckon With

The readers of the Global Incarnator Online News might be wondering, why Independent Presidential Advisory Volunteers? Well, the thought to establish IPAV sprang from the need to have an independent body meant to provide advisory services to national leaders. We very well know the Presidents have their advisers appointed by them. However, it is our conviction that it is necessary but not sufficient to deliver all needed to dispense sound and appreciable national leadership. We are all not an island of knowledge and creating an independent presidential advisory body is an ideal way of covering the untouched and mending the existing and potential national leakages. The national and global development efforts require all hands on deck, and independent bodies should not be isolated in the development stride. IPAV shall exist to supplement the efforts of appointed presidential advisers. Overall, we shall serve as middlemen or agents between presidents and the people they are serving. Our actions shall include research, analysis and advisory services to national leaders. We further intend to have a unit called the Foundation for Africa Development Aid Watch (FADAW). FADAW shall serve as a satellite unit for following domestic and international aid with the intent of creating the atmosphere where development aid donors and target group can have value for money. The site http://fadawafrica.blogspot.co.uk/ can be great for your digest. We are very aware of the fact that the road ahead is going to be rocky but determined to use the appropriate model necessary to break through the potential hurdles. We want a fair society for all and aim at promoting sustainable domestic and international peace. We are all human beings, regardless of race, colour, ethnicity and whatever perceived differences. The truth is the genuine intentions of IPAV and FADAW needs to be given a chance in order to contribute to the global call for making this world a better place for mankind.

Closing Message and Prayers

We might be cynical that the fluid issues affecting human existence can never be fixed. I am with a firm view that there is light at the end of the tunnel. What is surfacing around us are lessons that are meant to learn. We all (individuals, households, businesses, domestic and international leaders) need to identify those issues leading to our broken world, evaluate them and decide on how we can avert them. Some countries in the world had experienced a civil war, famine, flooding and all other nightmare experiences, yet still, these countries do not want to face the reality of putting policies in place to stop the recurrence of the experiences of the past. Leaders and policymakers in the world have to put their people first and divert their minds away from accumulating wealth at the expense of the people they are serving. We all need to hold on the path of dominant national and international interest relative to our self-interest. The issue of focusing on promoting predominantly national and global interest is the right way to foster sustainable happiness and peace for mankind. Politics is about fairness and a contravention of that contaminates the real essence of politics. Good domestic and international politicking is not about bashing political opponents and creating an appalling environment for your people. There is a saying that, “what goes around comes around”. We are now living in a democratic world and it happens that politics rotates, though some countries are yet to come to terms with the global call for true democracy. It is unhealthy to create the atmosphere of political opponent abusing in a rotational political stage. A precedent of such harsh political countervailing power is bound to have a ripple effect on the politics of the nation. Good political precedent begets good political precedent, and it is this healthy political scenario that genuine domestic and world citizens are yearning for.  Where politics is about creating a ditch for political opponents and whosoever opposes the political party in power, this trend will continue and the ongoing harsh payback is not good for a nation’s development. We want a political style that is tolerant and works toward the general good of the nation. A defective political dispensation will affect the real principle of politics and the resultant effect of this is a chaotic socio-economic trend. Looking at the issues raised on terrorism, it is now time for us all as individuals, households, and corporate entities, domestic and global governance to reflect on the identified issues and try to tackle them for sustainable peace. The war on terror should not be skewed and that war should be on all the perpetrators of terrorism. The war on terrorism will never end if those responsible for the terror around the world do not accept their actions and find a way of solving it for lasting peace. Terrorism is a sensitive and explosive issue and identifying the perpetrators, diagnosing why they are engaging in such inhuman act or anti-social behaviour and finding solutions are sure way to solve the problem of terrorism.  We have a spilt meal of terrorism around the world and it is time for us to work collectively to clear the mess and the mess can only be cleared if those perpetrations are ready to accept their wrongdoing and a rehabilitation strategy employed to eliminate the problem. The environment around us is faced with challenging problems, like the environmental issues that were raised earlier. We all need to fix the problems so as to avoid the high health risk linked with the increasing pollution and deforestation as a result of the actions of corporate institutions (both private and public) and we as individuals. The deforestation is depriving mankind of the very oxygen necessary for our existence and the carbon dioxide we humans generate as a waste product that is beneficial to plants and the accompany circle that is maintained between humans and plants. Unemployment remains a daunting problem for nations and it is important that affected nations encourage their people to be self-reliant by engaging and providing them with the needed resources to open their own enterprises in order to minimise the unemployment pressure faced by nations. We are having increasing numbers of poor and vulnerable members around the world, particularly in the case of developing nations. The issue of increasing number of poor and vulnerable members requires high attention, as neglecting the issue is dangerous for our societies. We need to give them hope and address the very issues leading to an incremental trend. Getting track of the poor and vulnerable members of our society through a data bank and making yearly progress of reducing the numbers are great strides in minimising the problems linked with that sector of our societies. Empowering the poor and vulnerable members of society can avoid the situation of them slipping away to terror cells and minimise the anti-social behaviour that comes out of their plight. It is great for us as individuals to apportion our services between paid work and voluntary services. Voluntary services, though financially unrewarding, is an appropriate thing to do. We need to be cognisance of the fact that whatever voluntary services we do there is that indirect reward from God, though the atheist school of thought may have a different view on this. However, whatever our opinions may be on this, the truth is, we all have the responsibilities to help in the development process of our nations.  Corporate bodies are required to adopt the principle of win-win situations between them and the communities they are operating. Including corporate social responsibilities as part of the objectives of the institutions and ensuring that this specific objective is met is the right way to break the ice between communities and enterprises. Addressing the CSR and reporting on that can clear the doubts in communities and can be the ideal way of closing the gap between the enterprise and community. The gossips from the Global Baobab tree had shown that some individuals and businesses are involved in organised crime. Nations need to be alert about those organised crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice, and this can be tackled through a strong intelligence network by ensuring that their activities are monitored and report any suspected dodgy move. Developing nations fall victim of intelligence failure due to their actions of putting their private pockets above national interest. Everyone has the freedom to choose where you want to belong to for the case of  evil, good and evil-good groups. The expectations of the Supreme Being and the scriptures recommend that the good group is the feasible sector to be. I know we all not perfect and being completely good is a hard thing to achieve. However, we all need to strive hard to achieve a large proportion of good, and taking a yearly stock of this can help in getting rid of the element of evil in all of us. The worst case scenario is where one's evil is highly detrimental to society. Being a destroyer of a life you did not make and depriving families of someone they so cherish through death action is an act worst for wear and extremely evil, particular where we are all in the queue to die. Depriving someone of opportunities and making life difficult for others through evil moves is surely not the right thing to do in this beautiful world that we all live in. We live in a world where we have weak and strong nations, rich and poor people. The material and financial resources that nations, particular weak nations may have might not be sufficient to meet their development needs. Such shortage of resources might warrant weak nations to explore domestic and international aid. However, what is observed from the information gathered from the Global Baobab tree is that a large proportion of the aid is spent on administration and a minimal proportion spent on the target group. We need to create a situation where the resources offered for development aid are largely used in the target group. FADAW shall be monitoring both domestic and international development aids so that both target group and donors can have value for money or resources. There is a gossip that developed nations are contributing to the creeping of weak nations and it is a good thing for developed nations to try to clear their name on the claim. Developing nations are having the style of governance where most of the resources committed to development aid and even the local resources are mostly drained off to developed nations by the politicians whilst their people are left to face perpetual suffering. Developed or strong nations have a role to play in tracking down the perpetrators rather than hosting them and it is the right move to help minimise the anti-social behaviour that accompanies the extreme and perpetual poverty hardly hitting a large proportion of people in developing nations. Furthermore, strong nations have a role to play in keenly monitoring the reporting culture of developing nations. The Global Baobab Tree had noticed that most of the information collected in developing nations undergo vetting by the politics of the day before it reaches international bodies. The hard truth about developing nations is that recruitments for jobs are mainly based on political links, hence, those employed are meant to dance to their political masters’ tune and the ultimate effect of this is that information collected are urged to be forwarded to those masters for vetting before it is presented to interested international organisations and even for national reporting. International experts that work in developing nations are meant to work with indigenes that are mainly connected to the political party in power, so information collected is prone to be doctored before it reaches the desk of interested international organisations. Sometimes one could really wonder whether these international organisations highly trust the information on their desk or whether they like it that way because they are part of the game. I would want to suggest that international organisations properly diagnose the information on their desk and try to figure out whether the information collected truly represent the purpose of their survey. In my opinion, international organisations have to reflect on the information they are relying on and try to devise a model that is fit-for-purpose, the type of model that is devoid of political interference and that can deliver value for the research they are conducting around developing nations. I do hope the article will be food for thought for individuals, households, domestic and international organisations, domestic and international politics. All journeys will have to come to an end and I need to close this piece with prayers for the year 2024. Oh God, I pray that you give us all sound health and long life. I pray that you strengthen the family ties in households and protect them against any evil that may want to break their family ties. I pray that domestic and international organisations deliver the expected goods and services to their clients and ensure a win-win scenario between them, their clients and the communities they are operating, and I pray that any organised crime face exposition and stopped permanently. I further pray that both domestic and international politics become fair, promote religious tolerance, lift our global people out of poverty, create the environment where we all see ourselves as human beings, provide the scenario where we all fairly benefit from our national cakes and promote global peace. God, I bend down on my knees for the prayers to be achieved. Amen! Ishalla!

Author:

PRINCE FODAY

Managing Editor, the Global Incarnator Online News

www.theglobalincarnator.blogspot.com

THE ROAD MAP TO SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE

Author: PRINCE FODAY

Introduction

The writing on this theme was inspired by the increasing level of divorces and separations among African parents in the Diaspora and at home, and this might be even be true for other continents. Marriage is an important institution and its sustainability should be a priority to mankind. Most marriages are short-lived due to improper appraisal by both parties. It is implied that, parties end-up in marriage because of love, though some marriages are spontaneous. The word “LOVE” means to look, observe, venture and engage. Love is misconstrued by many and some may judge it as mere passion for a relationship. True love needs to undergo an evaluation process before it can be determined. The bad thing with some parties is the inconsistency in behaviour. There are cases of people that show nice behaviour in pre-marriage relationship, and upon marriage, they start revealing their true attributes. It is this inconsistency that is leading to most divorces and separations. Before putting this piece, I took the opportunity to chat with lots of people on the issue. A school of thought told me that, “the best person to talk on the issue is someone with the experience”.  The other school of thought could not share this view. My personal opinion is that, whether someone is experienced or not in marriage, we need to open our doors to the pool of views on the issue. Learning is a continuous process and we should be ready to digest ideals at all times. We are living in the world of trial and error. The road map I am suggesting can be tested by anyone and I would be happy to have a feedback on the result. There is a saying that “You never try, you never know”. The model to the road map is from personal intuition and it is my utmost pleasure to share the food of thought with mankind.  The road map to a successful marriage can be expressed in symbols as M=F (CA, HH, DR, HR &O).  M is marriage; F is function of or depends on; CA is cognitive ability; HH is health history; DR is degree of resistance; HR is human relations; and O is others.

Cognitive Ability (CA):

Cognitive ability depicts one’s level of perception and not one’s academic credentials. There may be a conviction that education improves people’s cognitive ability, however, there are still those that contravene the hypothesis. A party with high cognitive ability will understand that he/she is entering into a relationship from a different background. Having this in mind and synchronising the differing background can be right for a successful relationship. Studying the likes and dislikes of each other can strengthen the marriage bond. Sound relationship thrives on openness and it is relevant for both parties to be transparent. Relationship should be built on trust and parties have to treat each other as mouth piece and promote domestic secrecy.  Both parties need to share and care for each other. Projects to be undertaking should be collectively discussed and resources put together to effect it. There may be variance in the level of domestic income, and the proportion of contribution to a project (s), depends on the strength of income from both parties. The parties can have their individual accounts from services, and there should be a unified account for domestic expenses and projects.  Negotiating to reach an agreement can be the right spirit in a relationship. There are some parties that are with the habit of attacking suddenly and irritating the other party when a burning issue arises. The sudden attack and irritations are wrong and unhealthy, and this needs to be replaced with diplomacy. The diplomacy involves studying the party’s right mood and creating an agenda for discussion. It would be a good idea to table issues and discuss it to reach a compromise.   Looking at the trend of relationship for those in the Diaspora, most of the divorces or separations are caused by weak cultural assimilation, and the ill-assessment of their partner.  Most people in the Diaspora are yet to try and understand the concept of cultural assimilation. Cultural assimilation is the application of a compromise between home culture and foreign culture.

Health History (HH)

The check for the health history can be a relevant factor in the decision making process. Common illnesses like flu, temporary pains and others not mentioned are irrelevant in this case. Terminal illness like HIV/AIDS and some others are dangerous for a marriage relationship, though it could be discriminatory (a critical issue when it comes to human rights). The question now is, how can one know that the person wanting to wed is affected by such illness? Well, through voluntary health check by partners. Blood group match check can further be important. Most people due to ignorance blame their partner to be impotent or un-reproductive without testing the blood group. The male partner may be impotent and may not be cognisance of this due to lack of health check. The female partner may have growth in the fallopian tube that may have developed at early age, and may be unaware, due to lethargy in health check. A health history check can enable the parties to identify health problems and provide a solution for a happy relationship, particular minor and solvable health problems. Basically, a partner with weak health history can increase expenses at domestic level. Money meant to be saved to meet domestic welfare will be largely spent on health. However, except for terminal or strong health problems, where there is love and the fact that the partner reasonably satisfies the other parameters to a successful marriage, minor and soluble health problems should be considered irrelevant.

Degree of Resistance (DR)

Showing a strong resistance to interference can sustain your relationship. In Africa and most continents, people are highly vulnerable to external interference to relationships. It is hard to see someone that keeps to one relationship. The case for Adam and Eve is a living testimony of mankind’s vulnerability to the test of resistance to centrifugal forces. The test of the vulnerability to the resistance became evident with an independent research. There were two couples that were in close relationship and an independent research was conducted to test the degree of love. The outcome of the research unveiled the result of  the female party having  a weak degree of resistance, and this was also the case for the male party. In politics, people can stage manage an interference into an opponent’s relationship to seek competitive strategies. Competitors in business should be aware of such interference into their competitive strategies.  It is incumbent to evaluate the degree of resistance to external factors before wedding a party. The degree of resistance can be weak or strong, and it is easy to identify this in a pre-marriage relationship. There are internal and external pressures from friends, relatives and the general public that will have negative effects on a relationship. A party may easily yield to the  views and issues from friends and relatives, thereby creating tensions in the relationship. It is necessary to watch-out for these unhealthy elements in a relationship.

Human Relationship (HR)

It is imperative to assess a partner’s relationship with interest groups (parents, relatives, friends and the general public). Sound relationship with interest groups can be good for someone interested in to wed. The degree of relationship may be weak or strong. Someone with a strong relationship with interest groups can promote sustainable relationship and peace. In most cases, a weak relationship with interest groups will render the marriage temporary.  A partner with a healthy relationship can increase domestic cash inflow and open opportunities. Imagine if the wedded parties open a family business and one of the partners does not maintain good relationship with customers. The unhealthy relationship will definitely lead to high customer turnover (that is the proportion of customers leaving the business at the end of the financial year). This reminds me of a man who was running a bar business with his wife at their premises. The wife’s sound relationship with clients made the business to flourish. The husband, because of weak trust in his wife, became suspicious and tensions started building-up out of jealousy. The baseless jealousy coupled with violent actions in the eyes of the clients resulted to the customers leaving for alternative business outlets. The business ended-up closing, and due to the fall in domestic income,  violent emotions continued to the extent that the man was jailed for inflicting serious bodily harm on the innocent wife.

Others

There are other factors like family history and level of productivity that can influence marriage. Family history involves an analysis of the partner’s parental background from the angles of religion, nature of marriage and culture. The level productive is based on the party’s degree of pro-activeness in generating domestic income. It is important to investigate whether the partner hails from a family that wed only to a Muslim or Christian or not cognisance of religious background. There is the likelihood that people from divorced or separated families may be prone to such end results in a relationship. People from polygamous or tribal-oriented or sectarian-oriented families are very likely to adopt the culture, and so, one should be careful in entering into a relationship from such background. One should be watchful whether the partner is highly income generating or weakly income generating. A hard working or high income generating partner is sure to increase domestic income and promote peace. Productivity cannot be judged from academic or professional credentials. A woman or man may not have academic or professional credentials, but can be very enterprising. It is the enterprising nature of a partner that needs to be identified. However, a partner with strong enterprising flair can influence the weak enterprising party, but this depends on the weak party’s level of understanding and cooperation to progressive strides.  

Conclusion

The consideration of the suggested parameters might help in achieving a successful marriage. There is the need to look before leaping into marriage. Some school of thought may say that love is blind. However, it is relevant to open your eyes and evaluate the relationship entering into. A major mistake made in selecting the wrong partner can lead to an unpleasant setback. There are cases where people take harsh actions (like killing their partner and many disheartening actions) due to hurdles in the relationship. A father recently told me that, "his son killed himself from frustrations from his wife by falling from the 10^th floor of their house".  There is a situation of someone who killed himself and the children because his wife disserted him.  You will never like your partner more than his/her parents that suffered for her/him. Or, it will cause pain on your parents, friends and relatives for anyone to harm or kill himself due to frustrations from a relationship. Why the senseless action? You have a life to live and it is senseless to destroy a life you did not create, rather than allowing hiccups (whether serious or mild) to lead you into unwarranted action. We have a reason for living on planet earth and our lives are are destined by God. The life we live has no straight line curve and is open to challenges (that is hurdles are inevitable and cannot be avoided as long as you are human).There should be self-discipline or restraint when faced with an unpleasant scenario. What Peter would not like to be done to him, should not be done to Paul, so do not inflict pain or harsh punishment on your partner when the going is tough. It is good not to allow stressful situation to drive you mad.  The best step for a serious hitch, that is unsolvable in a relationship, is to embark on an exit strategy. There are many pebbles on the beach or sound partners out there. Making the right decision is based on sound and comprehensive assessment. The marriage model developed can highly assist in reaching a sound decision.  The path to successful marriage has a direct relationship to the partner’s high level of understanding and cooperation, reasonable health history, impeccable attributes to external and internal disturbances, and pleasant relationship to interest groups, ideal family background and positive entrepreneurial skills.  Relationship should be based on trust and collective efforts for mutual benefits. A relationship with divided interest and vulnerable to internal and external forces cannot be sustainable. Marriage bond is like two parties uniting their differences and modelling it for the general good . I have to end this journey with a scripture from the Bible (Ephesians 5: 22-33). Let wives be in subjection to their husbands as to the Lord, because a husband is head of his wife as Christ also is the head of the congregation, he being a saviour of his body. In fact, as the congregation is in subjection to Christ, so let wives also be to their husbands in everything. Husbands continue loving your wives, just as Christ also loved the congregation and delivered up himself for it, that he might sanctify it, cleansing it with the bath of water by means of the word, that he might present the congregation to himself in its splendour, not having a spot or a wrinkle or any of such things, but that it should be holy without blemish. In this way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no man ever hated his flesh, but feels and cherishes it, as Christ does the congregation, because we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and he will stick to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. Nevertheless, also, let each one of you individually so love his wife as he does himself, on the other hand, the wife should have deep respect for the husband.

Author:

Prince Foday

United Kingdom

CHILD AND SOCIETY

Author: Prince Foday

The road to economic growth and development cannot be achieved if the rights and obligations of the child are not ensured. The current plight of the global economy is the gap between the child and society. The rule of thumb is that both parties have to accept that ‘it is a give and take issue’. The child has to know that, as long as these stakeholders are providing him/her the expected recommended rights, this should be reciprocated with the expected recommended obligations.

The specific aspects of concern are society’s satisfaction of the rights of the child to basic needs, education, health care, tolerance and compensation for efforts. The rights mentioned matches in line with the overarching principles established by the United Nations. This Overarching principle stressed that "society should leave no child out, put children first, care for every child, fight HIV/AIDS, stop harming and exploiting children, protect children from war, protect the earth for children, fight poverty, invest in children and listen to the child." 

Society and Child Rights

Society should be aware of the fact that every child is their child, irrespective of colour, religion, sex, language, race, Political or other opinions, natural or social origin, property, birth or other states. The notions that every child is your child substantiates the need for society to collectively ensure the child rights to basic needs, education, health care, tolerance and compensation for efforts.

The right to basic needs is concerned with society’s satisfaction of physiology needs like food, shelter and clothing of the child. The absence of this will demoralise the child. The child will have behavioural deficiency and performance and this can further have spread-effect on health.

The right to health care relates to the need for society to ensure that the child is healthy. Sound health provides the nation with an assured future working population. The protection of the child is relevant in promoting future economic growth. Many children are dying due to a weak parental background, the fact that health care services are at unreasonable value and the presence of long queues as a result of inadequate health delivery system.  As Professor Jeffry Sachs argued that, `Disease ridden societies are much more prone to the social ills of state collapse, dislocated populations and internal violence (Source: the Courier, March- April 2002). Professor Sachs claim is the truth that economies have to accept and take immediate action by urging society to collectively intervene to remedy its occurrence.

The right of the child to education requires society to ensure that the child becomes equipped with the knowledge needed for future participation in economic activities. Finance should not be a constraint to the education of a child. The creation of a ‘loan scheme’ to fund the educational needs of those children with the weak parental background can salvage the financial constraint to education. The loan scheme can be successful if the appropriate background information is collected about the child. The parents have to be signatories to the agreement. The loan scheme needs to establish that the child starts paying when rendering services (adulthood). The principal amount coupled with an interest (the interest paid is the compensation for inflation) needs to be paid back with less pain. The international community should have to assist in the payment of this educational loan, as these children may in future work for them (the issue of global services).

The right to tolerance stress on the need for society to be receptive to the child. There is the need for society to listen to the child (as there can be a sense from their nonsense) and create the right bargaining environment.  Most children have developed an unfriendly attitude due to the unfriendly disposition of society (unfriendliness beget unfriendliness). It is the right step if parents could ask their children to prepare a list of school expenses and thereafter bargain over it until both parties reach a point of satisfaction (Participatory Democracy).

The right to compensation for the effort is society’s obligation to the child. The child is motivated when given value (financial or non-financial) for efforts. The child needs to be assured of a ready job on completion of his academic hurdles. The absence of this can inevitably frustrate the child’s effort. There will be an increase in social costs (civil unrest), where the child is not engaged after reaching the labour stage. A form of compensation should accompany a successful performance in his academic work. The Group for African Peace, on its establishment, ignited the idea of compensating efforts by creating a column in its Newsletter called the “THE VOICE OF A CHILD.” The column is meant to encourage the child to push their pen on issues affecting them and the environment in exchange for D100 (Hundred Dalasis). The interesting thing was that, when the charitable organisation approached them on the issue, the children asked them to raise the compensation to D200 (Two Hundred Dalasis) per article. The entity had to negotiate the issue with the children until an equilibrium value of D100 (Hundred Dalasis) per article was reached.

It is the Author's firm conviction that, if the rights of the child are not met, there will exist the dissatisfaction of the child’s obligation to society. The adoption of the recommendations that follow will avert a situation where we will be surprised to see our children pointing rifles at us (child rebels) or causing social disorder.

Parents

- To accept that the current incapability to satisfy the rights of the existing child is a      

   mistake and should be prepared for reformation.

- To assess their capability to satisfy these rights before deciding whether to have a child  

   or not.

- To provide all material facts about the child and be receptive to stakeholders having  

   interest in ensuring the rights of the child.

- To avoid influencing the child against other stakeholders and accept them as child 

   development partners.

Governments

- To provide state outlets that are meant to ensure the rights of existing children.

- To enforce legislation requiring parents to have potential children provided they are in readiness to satisfy the rights of the child.

- To be receptive to other stakeholders wanting to supplement its effort.

- To collect background information about the child, so as to identify children with a weak background for appropriate action.

Educational Institutions

- To collect background information about the children they are teaching,

   to investigate whether the rights of the child are satisfied. The performance of the child depends on the satisfaction of the rights of the child.

- The educational institute should establish a funding scheme to assist in the sponsorship of those children with a weak parental background.

- To ensure that children are encouraged to prepare a study plan. The child may be    

   advised, based on his timetable, to read Science (7pm-8pm), Social Science (8.30pm-9.30pm) and Mathematics (10pm-10.30pm). Mathematics should be studied everyday. The child should be encouraged to speak strictly English or French in school and should be provided with a topic to talk on in assemblies (wiping public fear). Reading of novels, magazines, newspapers and other educational material can assist in improving the English or French of the child. Materials that are immoral should be ignored (oral, written and visual materials). Only materials that are development-oriented should be of utmost concern to the child. The child should be encouraged to create a filing system for subjects offered. Each subject should have its own file. Textbooks, past questions done and other relevant materials should be kept in the subject file for reference and quick access.

-  The child needs to be associated with groups or clubs in their institution. This will 

    increase their level of interaction and future participation to national development.

    The existence of Business Club in Schools with the purpose of developing a child

    entrepreneurship and increasing private sector participation is the right step.

-   To identify the talents of the child and ensure the promotion of those talents, as this

    will increase future revenue base. A child may be talented in music (like Alhajie Singhateh who was a student in Gambia Senior Secondary School and a renowned musician at a national level).

Other stakeholders

-The local community and the international community have to supplement government      

  efforts in ensuring the rights of the child.

- The collection of background data of the child can assist the local and international community in discharging the recommended rights.

- Job opportunities have to be created by the local community and international community to employ parents in order to empower them to satisfy the rights of our children.

- To avoid influencing the child against the government. To see the government as a partner in the development of the child.

- To supplement government effort in ensuring that the child is assured of a job upon completion of his or her studies. If these children are not absorbed, their negative behaviour can create instability for your existence.

Child and Obligations to Society

The obligations of a child to society can urge the child to maintain a healthy relationship with society. Keeping to the recommended expected obligations will inevitably satisfy society and their happiness will surely have a ripple effect on your success in this quadratic world.

Parents

- To ensure sustainable respect for their parents.

- The child needs to live to the expectation of their parents. Your success in whatever   

   undertaking (academic or non-academic) is their concern, so, there is a need to go for   

   success rather than failure.

-  To reveal to them whatever abnormal situation you are experiencing. 

-  To be subtle in presenting facts on sensitive issues to parents and be

    compromising.    

Government

- To ensure those grievances against the government are channelled through the Human Rights organisations and other arbitrating organisations for mediation rather than taken strike action. Strike action can lose lives (existing and potential working population) and increase government expenditure or reverse the economy backward.

- To avoid being influenced by external factors against the government. Have a mind of their own and identifying what is good and bad. 

 -  The child should consider government as one of those that care for his/her welfare and  not an enemy. After God is the government, hence, the government needs to be respected. The child is required to obey the law of the land.

- To accept as a form of punishment, to be kept in a reformation camp by the government until your behaviour proves satisfactory.  

Educational Institutions

- The child is expected to obey the rules and regulations of their educational institution. Breaking these rules and regulations will make the child lose his/her academic blessing. The disobedience of authorities of educational institutes will darken the future of the child.

- The staff of educational institutions should be respected. The staff of a child’s educational institution can provide their best when respected and efforts appreciated. .

- The child needs to reveal difficulties (academic or non-academic) they are facing. You are required not to hide anything from them. Children that are open will impress educational institution.

- To be in good terms with your colleagues. Your colleagues should be regarded as an institutional relationship, apart from biological affiliation. There is a need to share materials, other items and riches with them, particularly those with a weak parental background.

- To be proud of your institution and be competitive, so as to boost the image of your institution. To do all assignments on time and work hard for success in the subjects you are offering.

- To listen attentively in class and make sure explanations on subjects are fully digested. Writing notes are necessary but not sufficient. What is necessary and sufficient is when the child listen to understand the content of the explanation coupled with the need to copy notes.

- To prepare a plan of activity for academic and non-academic work. There should be a study plan, filing of the subject plan, financial plan and social activities plan.

- To be committed to the societies and clubs in your institution, for which, you are a

       member. There is a need to provide support even after completion of school.

Other stakeholders

- To appreciate the efforts and concerns of the local and international community in 

      ensuring the rights of the child and their contribution to national development.

     

- The child needs to compliment the assistance of society with sound

       academic performance and respect for their contributions. They are assisting

       because you are their child.

- To avert negative behaviour (harsh strike action) that will create setback or frustrate  

      their contributions.

- To provide all relevant facts about your background with "Utmost Good Faith".

- To associate with development institutions, for which, the child forms the target.

CONCLUSION

It is my fervent conviction that if stakeholders ensure the recommended rights of the child and the child adheres to recommended obligations, then, the gap between the child and society is sure to close. Most children were inspired to join the rebel movement in Sierra Leone and other parts of the world due to the glaring fact that these recommended rights were not fully or nearly satisfied. Most of the children had no alternative but to have the so-called liberation riffle, which they felt, will provide themwith the satisfaction of most of these rights. Most children became bloodthirsty by shooting at their parents and other stakeholders with the intent of forcing the satisfaction of most of these rights. The satisfaction of the expected recommended rights can create a stable environment for society. The global economy is currently experiencing socio-economic malaise because most of these rights are ignored. There is an increase in the level of street children because the satisfaction of the rights of the child is at its lowest ebb. The gap between the child and society will continue to widen if the suggested rights and obligations are not met.

(Further Reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child)

 AUTHOR:

PRINCE FODAY, HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTER

TRIBUTE TO A FORMER PRINCIPAL, Rev Willie E.E. Carr

The Late Reverend Willie E.E.Carr

                                 

Rev Carr was a great Principal of our time at the Gambia Senior Secondary School, Banjul, the Gambia. A man all teachers amicably related with and a great architect of the sustainable best results our school produced when we were teaching there.

He gave up his school for us to run summer classes for refugee students in the sub-region of West Africa at the time the region had civil unrest. We later transformed the pilot project as a school. The project was manned by voluntary Teachers Association (VOTA).

Through the support of the late Rev Carr, we wrote to Principles and Headteachers to absorb those meant for Primary Schools and Junior Schools but only maintained the students meant to sit their GCSE and "A" Levels Examinations in the academic year 1998 to 1999.

Rev Carr gave us a space for free in his school to run our School for the Academically Displaced (SAD) and absorbed all the "A" Level Students in the school. The GCSE students trained by our volunteers got nine division one out of eleven in the country.

Thanks to Rev Carr and the many volunteer teachers like Bernard Ngebuva, James Minah, Sam Siaka, Mohamed Mansaray, Jeremiah Soko, Messr Dior (Ivory Coast), Leonard Ngbloh, and the many Gambian, Sierra Leonean, Ghanaian and Nigerian teachers who made the project a success.

 Humility highly matters and paramount to our lives.  Reverend Carr was a philanthropist. He nurtured and sponsored many vulnerable students in the school to realise their dreams.

Rev Carr served as a mentor and indirect father to me and the many young teachers in the school and beyond.  He supported the publications of my books in Economics and Business Management for Senior Schools and Tertiary institutes and even made it to be part of the booklist for many schools in The Gambia.

The late Rev Carr was open to initiatives and any goodies from teachers and students as long it was for the good and progress of the school.

I could remember approaching him with the idea of opening a Business Club in the school together with my predecessor, Dawood Adjei, who was head of commercial studies.

Rev Carr embraced the initiative and gave us the go-ahead. The Business Club was meant to provide practical experience to students. We took the canteen as a hub for students' research and using the data for our classroom teaching. Rev Carr was always there to give us all the support and autonomy needed to make the project a success.

He was an exemplary leader and having the leadership traits that are unique to find. He never compromised the quality of grades needed to enter our school and ensured that departments worked as a team to produce the best results for the country.

He had an open-door policy and his office was opened to everyone. He would ensure that teachers have the requisite resources to deliver their teaching effectively and a great motivator to his staff and students. 

Rev Carr retired as a Principal to take up full-time preaching at the Trinity Methodist Church, Serrekunda, The Gambia.

Information reaching me from a distance indicated that the late Rev Carr conducted an online sermon for his flocks or members of the church on Sunday, 26 April 2020. He died the same Sunday in active service for God.

Great men die but their philanthropist and Godly souls will remain to usher the strong spirit of humility to mankind.

 Rev Carr, we will always remember you and continue to pray for your lovely wife and siblings to absorb the shock of your death and be provided with God's divine and eternal protection.

God giveth and taketh, and only HE knows best. Till we meet in the next planet if ever, rest in absolute peace.

PRINCE FODAY, UNITED KINGDOM

Former Head of Commercial Studies Department under the late Rev Willie E.E. Carr: 1999-2005

PROMOTING POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR

Author: Prince Foday

 

The Identification of Policies and Procedures in my School Setting and Benefits of these in Promoting Positive Behaviour

 

The policies in my school setting are comprised of behaviour policy, code of conduct, reward and sanctions. My school setting has established procedures or guidelines for promoting the identified policies.

 

There are accepted values and beliefs in the school and a contravention of that will go against the behaviour policy. Codes of conduct are sets of rules designed to enable children and young people to be aware of boundaries and a way of managing behaviour. Rewards can be used when a student displays positive behaviour. There are scales of sanctions for students when behaviour becomes inappropriate.

 

The behaviour policy in the school is meant to promote appropriate behaviour and discourage inappropriate behaviour. The policy prepares staff to understand that students in the school need to build positive traits like social skills (being receptive to others), empathy, self-respect and self-esteem. In promoting or achieving positive behaviour from students, the following procedures are required by the school:

o   Staff do not undermine the self-esteem of children or students through verbal disgrace

o   Staff  do not use corporal punishment or hit the child, as that goes against the law

o   Staff are meant to explain disciplinary boundaries in the simplest terms to make it understandable to those who may find it difficult

o   Staff should help students to understand what behaviour is acceptable and what is not acceptable

o   Staff should calmly intervene to prevent students from behaving in an unsafe way

o   Staff should build the scenario for students to exercise patience and take turns

o   Staff should praise students  for displaying positive behaviour

o   Staff should be respectful to children, young people and other adults

o   Staff should be  role models by showing positive behaviour

 

There are codes of conduct in place as guidance when dealing with inappropriate behaviour and they are:

o   We avoid making negative comments in front of students

o   We maintain consistency when addressing inappropriate behaviour

o   We resolve conflict by listening to both parties

o   We maintain calmness when dealing with inappropriate behaviour

Students are rewarded for showing positive behaviour and we provide visible rewards (by using stickers), allowing choosing time, revealing success to parents and other teachers, giving attention or smiles of endorsement, providing oral praise, and giving certificates or points or stars.

We apply a scale of sanctions when behaviour is inappropriate. Some of the scales of sanctions are:

o   Removal of privileges

o   Restricted access to certain activities

o   Suspension

o   Detention

o   Removal from social time (breaks/lunch times)

o   Send the culprit to the deputy head or head teacher

o   Speak to the parent

 

 

Explaining the Importance of Consistency and Failures when Applying Boundaries and Rules for Behaviour

 

Consistency enables the child and young people to fully comprehend limits and work within expected behaviour. Consistency in behaviour within a classroom is about establishing stable policies, procedures and consequences. Consistency has the features of being respectable, fair, safe and stable.

 

Building an achievable and realistic limit will make it possible for the child to communicate appropriately. In the absence of consistency, the child is left in limbo and feeling confused. Practitioners are expected to maintain the same rules and avoid leading the child in a confused state.  Practitioners must be consistent in the application of boundaries and rules as failure to do so will result in the child being baffled. The failure of practitioners to apply limits and rules will lead the child not to be certain about what is right or wrong.

 

Consistency in applying boundaries and rules can promote effective classroom management, lead to fewer behaviour problems, support a positive classroom community and build an engaging learning scenario. It is significant to be consistent with policies, procedures and consequences and such stability will be effective classroom management. Consistency in practitioner behaviour in enforcing boundaries and rules can build student trust and that can make them behave within limits, and mitigate behavioural problems. Promoting a fair classroom community will make students have a positive view about their colleagues, and the practitioner and that can further lead to effective class control. Being consistent with boundaries and rules in the classroom setting can provide the outcome of students feeling safe and increase their focus on learning. Skinner advanced education as the establishment of behaviour that will be of benefit to the person and others in the future.

 

 

Describing the Benefits of Promoting Positive Values, Attitudes and Behaviour Guidance 

 

Positive values, attitudes and behaviour guidance are important in tackling challenging behaviour in the classroom. Its application can assist in increasing student engagement in learning, reduce stress and entirely enhance student behaviour and performance.

 

Positive behaviour can be supported by ensuring the full attention of students before learning begins, praising students for the showcase of positive behaviour, allowing them to express their feelings and opinions, building their emotional intelligence or coping skills, encouraging them to practice behaviour expectations until a full understanding is achieved, establish clear boundaries and rules, encourage learning to be fun and build steady routines.

 

Children and young people can benefit from the promotion of positive values, attitudes and behaviour guidance in the following ways:

 

o   The acknowledgement of positive behaviour

o   Establishing clear expectations

o   Building  strong social skills based on respect

o   Enhancing Social and Emotional Well-being

o   Developing the environment for students to concentrate on learning

o   Professional  action on minimising negative behaviour

   

The acknowledgement of positive behaviour can be done through praise and praise for good behaviour is an approach meant to attract the attention of students in the class, and it is likely that the student will repeat positive behaviour by making it a routine. Establishing an expectation that is clear and achievable is a way to develop a caring and safe classroom, and it is significant to be consistent and eradicate confusion with boundaries for everyone in the classroom, including practitioners.  Students who struggle to control their emotions should be supported. It is difficult to focus on learning when tired, distracted and upset, and teaching learners the desired coping or calming skills will be beneficial in gaining the attention of the child and young people. It is important to provide an engaging classroom environment that requires seeking the attention of students before learning starts and that can be helpful to behaviour management coupled with having the attention of all students to grasp all areas of your teaching. Reducing negative behaviour through professional action can be necessary in promoting positive values, attitudes and behaviour.

 

 

Identifying, and Summarising, the Patterns and Triggers that can Lead to Challenging Behaviours and Explaining What Actions can be  taken to Pre-empt Divert or Diffuse Potential Flash Points

 

Challenging behaviour is a form of behaviour that hinders the safety or learning of students and those around them.  People with challenging behaviour find it difficult to communicate their desires and emotional and physical pain. Challenging behaviour is a situation that we have to deal with in my school setting. It is frequent with people having neurological problems or neurodevelopment differences like learning disability, dementia, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder and autism.

 

The types of challenging behaviour in my school setting are verbal, non-verbal and physical. Verbal challenging behaviour is oral communication meant to express desires or pain and the action is not meant to hurt the people around them but to communicate agony, examples are using inappropriate language, threatening, arguing, screaming, shouting, and so forth.  No-verbal challenging behaviour can be noticeable in different ways and it is meant to deal with physical and emotional suffering, examples are swinging arms, pacing, eating inedible objects, social withdrawal and destructiveness.  Physical challenging behaviour occurs when a person feels stimulant or devastated, and examples are throwing things, biting, kicking, hair pulling, and hitting people and themselves.  

The causes of challenging behaviour observed in my school setting are cognitive challenges, emotional distress, physical discomfort, sensory sensitivity, unmet needs and communication difficulties. Children and young people with cognitive challenges find it difficult to process or understand situations which can lead to frustrations. Emotional distress like anxiety, anger, fear and frustration can result in challenging behaviour as the person may not have the requisite skills to communicate their emotions amicably. Physical discomfort like pain can lead to challenging behaviour. Some children and young people may have a high degree of sensitivity to smell, touch, sound and light, and that can trigger discomfort. Unmet needs like sleep, hunger, and thirst coupled with more intricate emotional or social desires like autonomy, sensory input and attention can lead to challenging behaviour.

 

There is an observed cycle of challenging behaviour in my school setting and they are trigger, escalation, crisis and recovery. A trigger is the antecedent or starting point of challenging behaviour and that is the distressing situation for the child. Escalation is the heightened or progressive situation for the child and young person, and that is when the person displays problematic actions. A crisis situation is where the person reaches a dangerous level and that will involve self-injury, severe aggression and other behaviours that show an instant risk to the person and those around them. A recovery state is a circumstance where the person becomes calm or in equilibrium after the escalation and crisis points and that involves supporting the person to control their emotion.

 

The standard ways of preventing and managing challenging behaviour in my school setting involve the use of de-escalation techniques (staying calm, taking away anything responsible for the distress, providing the person what he or she wants, providing the person space, entertain the person with what they enjoy), providing a more accustom way of communicating needs and emotions, ensuring the safety of student and staff and providing an alternative. We use positive behaviour support (PBS) to defuse potential flash points and that involves amending their routines to avoid common triggers, building coping strategies for stress like a deep breath and looking for safer ways of expressing themselves or finding acceptable communication methods.  We use a Multisensory Environment (MSE) as a de-escalating approach that is provided to assist the child and young person to utilise their remaining senses to be involved in and understand the world. Providing an environment where the child engages with people, objects and events in a multisensory environment can support them understand ideas about the world, and that helps in understanding in building trust and mutual respect.

 

References

 

Parenta (2021) How to…Support Children’s positive behaviour. Available at: https://www.parenta.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/How-to%E2%80%A6-Support-childrens-positive-behaviour.pdf (Accessed 20 October 2023)

National College for School Leadership (2011) Promoting the conditions for positive behaviour to help every child success. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7d534140f0b60a7f1a9d3a/promoting-the-conditions-for-positive-behaviour-to-help-every-child-succeed.pdf (Accessed 02 November 2023)

Burnham, L. and Baker, B. (2010) Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools (Primary). Essex: Pearson Education Limited

Fulton, J. (2019) How important is consistency in behaviour management. Available at: https://www.classcraft.com/blog/consistency-in-behavior-management/ (Accessed 25 November 2023)

Curson, L.B. (1985) Teaching in Further Education: An outline of Principles and Practices. 3^rd Edition. Great Britain: Biddles Ltd, Guildford

Ref: Suban, P., Sharma, U., Leif, E. and Patnaik, S. ( 2023) Five ways to use positive behaviour support strategies in your classroom. Available at: https://www.monash.edu/education/teachspace/articles/five-ways-to-use-positive-behaviour-support-strategies-in-your-classroom (Accessed 03 January 2024)

Rogers, G. (2022) Promote Positive Behaviour. Available at: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/promote-positive-behaviour (Accessed 06 January 2024)

Nurseline Community Services (2023) Defining Challenging Behaviours: Causes, Triggers and Examples: Available at: https://nurselinecs.co.uk/challenging-behaviour/defining-challenging-behaviour-causes-triggers-and-examples/ (Accessed 14 January 2024)

https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/behaviour-students/guidance/3-challenging-behaviour-influences-and-triggers (Accessed 25 January 2024)

Sense (2023) Challenging behaviour. Available at: https://www.sense.org.uk/information-and-advice/conditions/challenging-behaviour/ (Accessed 09 February 2024)

Pagliano, P. (2001) Using a Multisensory Environment: A Practical Guide for Teachers. Great Britain: David Fulton Publishers

 

Author:

PRINCE FODAY

Professional Freelance Journalist, Educationist, Humanitarian Politician and Independent Global Peace Ambassador