Khaberni - Scenes of university violence in our Arab environment are among the most shocking and painful phenomena, as despite their repetition, they still evoke in us grief and astonishment together, because they simply cannot be justified within the walls that are supposed to be nurturing knowledge and awareness, not behaviors of force and anger.
Every time a student clashes with another, not only a window breaks, but something deeper shatters in the role of the family as the foundation of upbringing and in the image of education, in the sense of belonging, and in the spirit of the youth that was supposed to learn, not to fight.
In the silence of the university halls, hidden voices remain unheard.
Young faces smile at reality while they carry inside them a noise that no one sees, stress, fear, loneliness, and perhaps anger formed from the pressures of economic and social life. From the outside, the university looks like a place of knowledge, but inside it is a mirror of a small society carrying all its contradictions between ambition and pressure, between hope and despair, and between the search for self and the fear of failure.
And with every new fight, we rush to discuss punishments and enact and apply laws, which are usually punitive.
We separate, we ban, we threaten, as if deterrence alone is enough to correct the path, but no matter how severe the punishment, it does not build awareness, nor does it heal a wound, nor does it give the student a reason to regain confidence in themselves or their university. Punishment deters, yes, but it does not repair; it stops the act temporarily, but it does not touch its cause, so if we do not address the roots, violence will return in different forms, and with new names.
Psychological counseling is the first line of defense, not the security guard or the disciplinary rules, it is what transforms anger into understanding, and impulsiveness into awareness. The presence of a counselor inside the university does not mean the system is weak, but that its human strength.
Because it restores the student's sense of security, making them capable of confessing, not denying.
But the university alone cannot rebuild.
Parents are partners in the initial planting, and civil society is a partner in restoring trust.
When children are raised to listen not accuse, and to respect not threaten, conflict becomes difference, not strife, and power transforms from violence to awareness. We do not need higher walls, but wider hearts.
Nor to more laws, but to more understanding, for punishment deters... but containment rebuilds.
And those who do not embrace their youth today, will find themselves tomorrow facing a generation that punishes them because they did not listen when it needed security.
