Let's give more attention to university students

JKUAT students during a previous graduation ceremony. [File, Standard]

The country has been jolted by reports of grisly murders of university students in the recent past. In the latest incident, Adah Nyambura, a first-year student at Maasai Mara University was raped, burnt with an iron box and then strangled reportedly after attending a party with friends.

In April, Ann Wangari, a fourth-year student at Bomet University, was killed and dumped in a river. In the same university, a male student died after he was stabbed by his girlfriend after they broke up.

In January, the body of Phyllis Jepleting, a first-year student at Karatina University, was found inside her boyfriend's house in Nakuru. In December last year, the body of Victoria Muthoni Theuri, a Kenyatta University student, was also found in her boyfriend's house.

There have been other similar cases which go to show that something is not right in our universities. While there is no denying that crime is a burgeoning national problem and universities are not immune to it, we need to ask why university students are dying needlessly.

Notably, most these students are barely out of teenage but unfortunately we deem them adults and leave them to their own devices.

Unfortunately, universities are no longer the safe spaces they once were. Drug use and peddling and gambling are not uncommon in universities. This is attested by the numerous 'Letters to the Editor' that this newspaper receives from students on these subjects. Strained romantic relationships are also a major concern among students.

There is no shortage of social misfits, within and without universities, out to mislead or even harm fellow students. It is upon university administrations to liase with police to root out criminals from universities. In addition, students need constant counselling on how to deal with relationships especially when they go sour. They also need advice on how to identify and keep off bad company. We mus do everything to end these shocking killings.