The Effects of Violence on Colombian Children's Education
How many times did your parents or relatives told you to close your eyes to a scene in a movie that was too bloody? Or you were told not to play that video game or watch that movie, judged too violent for kids? But what if exposure to violence happens in real life? What solutions can we find when the very presence of children in school is physically, cognitively and socially hindered by violence that is deeply embedded in the functioning of your country? When censorship is not an option.
Here, this is the kind of violence to which children and youth in Colombia have been continually exposed to, and now that peace seems on the horizon, we still see the consequences of the conflict. GIULIA DI PIERRI
Traces of the violence against children in Colombian streets, (La Prensa Latina, 2020)
Colombia is a rural country that is still democratic and has been the scene of half a century of armed conflicts, that are only currently being resolved at the political level, in addition to the presence of a powerful drug cartel. We can well imagine the amount of generations that grew up in a highly belligerent environment. There were two major armed groups, whose presence in the territory strongly impacted the population: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP) and the National Liberation Army (ELN).
The first effect on childhood of this armed conflict was the child recruitment into the army ranks of illegal armed groups, happening in most cases in their school. Particularly exposed to this risk were children already vulnerable in rural areas (about the 90% of recruitment), for instance, indigenous children, persuaded by the promise of a monetary reward, or in adventure or, worst cases, violently forced to become soldiers. Colombia was ranked third in the world for the number of young people employed in the armed forces in 2005. It is not just exposure to violence but forced participation.
The armed conflict can have another significant impact on the children’s lives, as in the case of forced displacement. Colombia has the second-highest rate of people in the world who have had to leave their homes because of the risk that staying would entail, both because of the murders and massacres and the recruitment of children. About 50% of minors, after being displaced, will never return to school.
For those who remain, the risk is that access to school would still not be possible due to a lack of qualified teachers who have left the territory. The destruction of school infrastructures by the battles and the lack of physical resources prevents offering quality formal education. War becomes a daily spectacle, and the likelihood of children witnessing shootings, abductions and massacres is incredibly high. It is a civil conflict, and for the conquest of territory, armed men do not hesitate to use practices of extortion and predation, lashing out at civilians. The murder rate is skyrocketing. School is no longer a safe place for Colombian children, but where they could witness massacres, or worse be killed or taken away. And so thousands of children remain without the opportunity to study, especially among the poorest children.
Children exposed to violence during childhood, according to the 2019 Violence Against Children and Youth Survey are 41% girls and 42% boys (End of Violence against Children, n.d.). The research discusses the effects of high violence exposure on a child's development already in utero, compromising their general health and even their physical structure (e.g. height). And not only that, but another meaningful impact can be on the cognitive skills and psychological state. Children who can participate in school activities and can now know that there is a whiff of peace remain marked by conflict; raised in stress, they tend to have higher rates of anxiety and depression, as well as demonstrate lower performance in school subjects, such as math, reading, and natural sciences. They show less cognitive ability and lower grades. But after all, how can we ask a child to be focused on learning the alphabet when he is constantly worried to come home and find out a loved one was murdered?
Often and often, they drop out of school. Exposure to homicide in the early years increases by 15% the chance of school dropout, which is already high due to inadequate infrastructure, family flight, and child labour. These effects are reinforced by the child's poverty or ethnicity (e.g., indigenous), just as girls become the most vulnerable victims, as they are more likely targets of sexual violence.
It also increases the possibility that children, as themselves victims of an environment of communal violence, will reproduce the same patterns, with a high risk of developing aggressive behaviour or facilitating access to violence in peer interactions. Thus becoming a perpetrator themself, or remaining a victim even at school at the hands of schoolmates. The use of violence is legitimized. Even at school.
So, what solutions can we try to implement to help children to get out of this cycle of violence? Many studies propose education as a solution. Education and politics, which arm in the arm can promote an alternative life, where peace can reign and democracy is respected. Just now, when the conflict seems to be moving toward its end, resources must be mobilized in the care of school infrastructure, and the development of new programs. The school must acquire its rightful role as a beacon, where children can learn dialogue between cultures and the unraveling of conflict through negotiation, safely within its walls. Policies must mobilize for the inclusion and participation of girls in the education system and finally implement the laws on the protection of children's rights (Code of Law on Children and Adolescents, 2007) already found in the Colombian Constitution.
GIULIA DI PIERRI
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