Handling Indiscipline Involving Children at Home and Schools: A Restorative Justice Perspective to Unlearn Violent Behaviours in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Disciplining children using restorative justice approaches can be one way of contributing to building peaceful societies in Southern Africa. This article explores restorative justice approaches to disciplining children within the endogenous systems of the Ndebele society in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The researchers Ntombizakhe and Dorothy argue that using violent means by adults (parents and teachers) at home and school to enforce discipline among children gives rise to outcomes of violence, with children becoming violent in their adulthood and impeding the creation of sustainable peace. Data for this study were collected through focus group discussions. Three focus group discussions were held with ten teachers, ten parents and twelve learners previously trained in conflict resolution by the Alternative to Violence Project, a peacebuilding programme. The study reveals that violence is a learnt behaviour, which can be unlearnt as children and communities learn and adopt non-violent practices from traditional endogenous practices of curbing indiscipline at the family and community level. The article concludes that parents and school authorities should be empowered and encouraged to cultivate restorative justice strategies for redressing indiscipline in children. If homes and schools adopt restorative justice approaches to handling indiscipline, the same constructive ways might be cultivated in communities and at the national level for sustainable, peaceful communities.