THE ROLE OF THE SCHOOL IN CONNECTION WITH JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Contributed by Blesilda A. Tamoro, Teacher III, Sta. Rosa Elementary School, Pilar

Juvenile delinquency is anti-social, a menace to the people’s welfare, different from what is normal action, and which serves as outlet of an instinctive urge. The common forms of juvenile delinquency are disobedience, harm to persons and theft.

Some of the causes of juvenile delinquency are idleness which leads to mischief, lack of affection and sense of belonging, rejection, broken family, poverty, gang member, emotional deprivation that makes him feel that if nobody cares for him, frustration wherein the resulting disappointment is vented against society etc.

The role of the school in connection with juvenile delinquency are the following:

Check what has been accomplished with children and follow-up from time to time. Let us support them.
Identify the children who need help such as lack of confident or a friend and provide this help.
The school is a small society and all those enrolled should be made to feel that they are part and parcel of the school.
Provide a warm healthy school climate.
Find out the interests of children and provide outlets for these.
Give every child a small responsibility or a small chore to be responsible for.
Develop worthwhile values.
Have the pupils distinguish between right and wrong behavior.
Teacher should accept all children and do not have favoritism and provide the affection that they may not get at home.
Since idleness is one of the causes of juvenile delinquency, keep the pupils busy at worthwhile activities.

REFERENCES:

Apolinario, Filomeno O., Perez, Rafael B., Segarra, Tito S., Social Problems. Manila: Rex Book Store. 1977. Part IV, Chapter 1, Pat III, Chapters I, II, III

Bertrand, Alvin L., Basic Sociology, Second edition. New York: Meredith Corporation, 1973. Chapter 18; pp. 393-404.

Cook, Lloyd Allen and Cook, Elaine Forsyth, A Sociological Approach to Education, 3^rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1960, Chapter 12.

Stanley, William o., Smith, B. Othaniel, Benne, Kenneth D., and Anderson Achibald W. Social Foundations of Education. New York: The Dryden Press, Inc., 1956, Section B.