Billiards clubs contribute to growing vice in youth

Boys from 10-13 are exposed to bad language and other unsavory habits at billiards clubs.

A large number of students are skipping class to spend time at billiards clubs. Students see these clubs as places for entertainment and fun away from both family supervision and the boring daily routine at school.    “I spend most of the day playing billiards and videos games. Sometimes, I skip school. My parents do not know - they do not even visit the school to ask about the level of my education,” said preparatory school student Abdo Haider.

Amer, another secondary-school student, said, “I play billiards for about three hours a day. My family knows that I often skip school, because it bores me. There are no sports or other things that may break the daily routine of study and encourage students to stay in school rather than going to billiards clubs and internet cafés.”

The owners of some billiards clubs do not prevent students from spending their days there, saying that it is not their responsibility to prevent any one from playing and enjoying themselves.  

“There are no rules preventing students from playing billiards or other games. Personally, I don’t prevent anyone from playing except very young children. I know that some students skip school to come and play, but this is not my responsibility. This is the responsibility of the family and the school,” said Saleh Mahdi, the owner of a small billiards and video games shop on 30th street. 

It is very dangerous for children and teenagers to spend most of their time playing in internet cafés or billiards and video games clubs without family supervision, he added. 

For his part, the owner of the al-Sarkha billiards club on Hayel Street said, “We sometimes prevent young students from entering the club. But, it is the responsibility of families to supervise their children, to know what their children are doing.” 

Some students don’t wear school uniforms, making it difficult to prevent them from playing in the club. If I were to prevent students from coming here, it would negatively affect my club as students will simply go to others, he said.   

Weakness of education process 
In most schools, there are no sports or competitive activities. This pushes students to look for these activities outside the schools.  

Adel Abdo Rabee’i, a researcher of behavioral psychology and teacher of administrative sciences at the Applied Sciences University said, “School drop-outs are an indication of the weakness of the education system, and the absence and fragileness of the Parents Councils. The weakness of the education system makes it difficult for teachers to follow up on the progress of students, and teacher leadership is not valued among students.”

Also, the absence of sports and competitive activities, games and music classes, and school trips, all of which play an important role in encouraging students to attend and enjoy classes, contributes to a feeling of monotony. This boredom among students results from the daily routine of school, and pushes them to look for other ways to have fun outside of school, he added. 

Iman Al-Bahali, a teacher at the Shuhada al-Aqsa school said, “Schools should make billiards and other sport games available for students, and they should allocate special classes for these games. This will break the daily routine and decrease the number of drop-outs.” 

“Students, especially teenagers, are full of energy. Sports at school can be used to control this energy and direct it in appropriate directions. So, headmasters must pay more attention to sports.” 

Absence of family supervision 
Parents however bear the foremost responsibility for encouraging their children to attend school. The main factor encouraging students to skip classes is insufficient family supervision and the complete dependence on the schools, Rabee’i said.   

Negative behavioral effects 
These clubs negatively affect students, especially teenagers, who may begin to learn bad behavior, eventually turning to criminal activities.     

In such centers, teenagers and children learn certain anti-social behaviors and bad words from other youth. Also, these centers are the focus of gangs, highlighting the need for greater parental supervision to ensure students stay in school, teacher Iman said.   

Blaming students for dropping-out schools reflects negatively on their behavior, and pushes them further into their damaging behaviors. So, these clubs become not only a place for recreation and entertainment, but also a place to express anger against the outside community which opposes them. As a result, children and teenagers begin forming a kind of culture with ideas that oppose the culture and ideas prevalent in society. They also begin to learn bad words and culturally unacceptable behavior,” Rabee’i said. 

He added, “The community, particularly here in Yemen, is relatively poor and the culture of games and movies are all very attractive.  So, it becomes easy for gangsters to tempt many teenage students who perform poorly at school, and make them involved in criminal activities such as theft.  

How to avoid these problems: 
The family is the main pillar in the lives of youths, and it bears foremost responsibility for students. So, the family should follow up with students and cooperate with school management. Parents should be familiar with the problems and difficulties facing their children, and they should allow them to play under their supervision,” teacher Iman said.  

Teacher Aref al-Mudhala, deputy at the Mohammed Ismael School said, “During school hours, we don’t allow students to leave school grounds without permission. But, students who skip class don’t go to school at all. They tell their families that they are going to school, but in reality, they don’t go.” 

We try to keep in contact with their families, but this is very difficult and requires financial support.   Sport activities, including billiards, tennis and computers must be available in every school in order to encourage students to attend, but these activities need an operational budget as well, he said.  

He stressed the importance of cooperation between the Parents Council’s and schools, saying there must be cooperation between Parents’ Council and schools in order to support and encourage sports. Also, families must follow up with students to ensure they attend school.

He added that the lack of licenses for some clubs and non-compliance of students with the school uniform makes it difficult to observe them, so the State must take appropriate mechanisms to observe these clubs in order to protect the future generations.   

Related Content

•  5th Arab Ladies Lunch with a visit of Clinic General Beaulieu in Geneva launched
•   Life-saving group from Yemen wins Nansen Refugee Award
•  Photojournalist Amira Al-Sharif’s Journal 2010-2011 in the Land of dreams
•  Yemen Capital’s Al-Hasaba residents, massive displacement and continued suffering
•  Raufa Hassan, precious philanthropist dies at 53
•  Tears in the storm
•  Protecting Yemen Leopard
•  The Gift Maker wins British Council short film competition
•  Yemeni cartoonist swims freely in his sea of thoughts
•  Qat chewing increases among Yemeni young girls