Structure of Violence in Pakistani Schools: A Gender Based Analysis

Dr. Jamil Ahmad Chitrali , Dr. Mussarat Anwar & Dr. Syeda Nabahat

Abstract
Violence in punishments by school teachers, class leaders or even peers causes delinquency
and deviancy among students. This phenomenon is reported from all continents of the world
both from formal schooling and informal education system. This paper investigates how
schools as structures produce violence and what are the mechanisms through which violence
is received by students. Two alternatives were assumed in construction of this variable: first,
the School administration, which are structured in such a manner that promotes masculinity,
and the second, the culture in neighborhoods that instigate students to reflect upon is schools
where vulnerable students are the recipients. These vulnerabilities may include subvariables such as ethnicity, age, gender, class or even physical disabilities. The third
possibility is that youth in Schools sustain violence back home and project their reaction on
others as replica in schools. The curriculum is not considered in this study as the syllabus in
government schools uniform so it may not be a determining variable across schools under
consideration. This paper is derived from the literature of my PhD dissertation in which a
sample size of 522 students (54.6% boys and 45.4% girls) was randomly selected on
proportional allocation basis all enrolled in Grade 10 in December 2013. The major findings
of that study showed that almost all of the respondents (95.59%) agreed that violence at
school is the major cause of dropout from school; as result shows in this study that majority
of respondents (73.47%) agreed that harsh treatment of teacher is ineffective in making
student to comply on homework assignments.

Keywords: Gender Based Violence, School Structure, Class Monitors and Vulnerable Places