2025 IJRSE – Volume 14 Issue 1
Available Online: 15 February 2025
Author/s:
Wiysahnyuy, Lilian F.
The University of Bamenda, Cameroon (fai_lilian@yahoo.com)
Abstract:
The issue of violence is a newsworthy concern in most public secondary schools in Cameroon. Despite government’s and stakeholders’ efforts to curb this social ill, the incidence keeps increasing. Given this situation, there is need to explore the reasons for the persistence and exploit potential measures to mitigate the situation. A cross-sectional survey was used in this study. Purposive and convenient sampling techniques were used to select 680 students and 140 teaching and administrative staff from 14 public secondary schools in the 10 Regions of Cameroon. Descriptive statistics mainly, frequencies, percentages, mean, and standard deviations were used to analyse the quantitative data while thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. The findings indicate that the common causes of school violence include limited parental supervision of children’s behaviour, loose rules on children’s behaviour in the family, abusive use of drugs, exposure to violence and teachers’ attitudes towards students. The respondents indicated that school violence could be mitigated through effective counselling and rehabilitation of perpetrators and victims, sensitization, discipline and parental guidance. From the findings, it is evident that combating school violence is a collective enterprise involving parents, the community, school and other stakeholders. In this partnership, the school has a crucial role in promoting a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programme and guaranteeing the safety of students and other school officials. To attain these goals, there is need to increase the number of school counsellors, elicit para-counselling and employ the services of psychologists and security agencies to manage extreme cases.
Keywords: school violence, causes, management, mitigation, strategies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2025.25009
Cite this article:
Wiysahnyuy, L. F. (2025). School violence in Cameroon public secondary schools: Causes and mitigating strategies. International Journal of Research Studies in Education, 14(1), 219-230. https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2025.25009