NAIROBI: Have you noticed that when students burn schools the dormitories are always the target? Rarely are labs or classrooms burnt. This is telling.
The reasons given such as being denied permission to watch Eurocup are lame. There are more compelling reasons students set schools on fire, and the earlier we address them the better.
First, why do they burn the dorms? And why are boys more prone to burning schools?
Burning dorms will ensure they go home. The coded message is that home is better than school — there is plenty of food and entertainment, from TV to the Internet. You also wake up when you want.
It was not always this way. In the past, schools were better than our homes. We watched TV for the first time; we ate bread for breakfast for the first time; we wore shoes and trousers for the first time.
School gave us a chance to escape manual work at home. There was no picking of pyrethrum, milking cows, harvesting crops in the rain or using a traditional lamp to read. The only negative side was showering with cold water.
It seems our schools have been left behind by the rest of society. As homes embrace modern technology, schools have not. It is not the headteachers’ or boards’ fault.
It is all economics.
Parents pay for their children’s education and would loathe paying more fees to upgrade dorms and provide amenities like hot water. Parents already believe school costs are too high.
Also, the Government does not provide enough money to upgrade schools. Noted that students in national and private schools rarely burn down their institutions?
National psyche
The headteachers (they prefer to be called principals) are in a dilemma. The Government says students should not be sent home for not paying fees, but then it does not pay the fees.
We want to get the best services but not pay for them. The idea of paying for services has taken long to sink into our national psyche. It is a hangover from the ‘good old days’ when everything was free, from education to medical services.
The burning goes beyond comfort in dorms.
National and private school graduates have clear career and job prospects. They are likely to go to university, and if they do not, their parents will provide them with alternative career paths. An average student from a well-to-do family may have brighter career prospects than a bright student from a poor background.
Such prospects have angered lots of youngsters, and any opportunity to express their anger is welcome. They do not see the value in studying. They probably have brothers and sisters idling at home after KCSE and even after university.
Burning schools has unintended consequences. The first is flight of the middle and upper classes from public schools. This creates an underclass that is left behind that is disillusioned and angry.
It is the same thing in American inner cities. Schools are badly run because teachers, students and parents are demotivated and long gave up. They feel that the odds are against them, that trying is not even necessary. Such helplessness can be institutionalised.
Another consequence is that private investors in education avoid investing in boys’ schools. Noted that most private high schools are for girls?
This neglect of boys should worry us. Once they drop out of school, they will not die or migrate to another planet; they will remain here. This may explain why we are building walls topped with razor wire around our houses. Government data further shows about 80 per cent of prisoners are men, yet we make up about 50 per cent of the population.
Joblessness and hopelessness
In America’s historically black universities and colleges, women make up about 65 per cent of the student body. Do not ask me where the men are ... but I am sure you can figure out the answer.
What can be done?
The Ministry of Education has ordered the boards of management to listen to students’ grievances. Will they address the most important grievance — joblessness and hopelessness?
If students see bright career and job prospects, they will shower with cold water, learn under a tree and have no time to burn their schools. The problem in high schools should be addressed across the whole education system.
Shifting the burden of disciplining students to their parents is a step in the right direction. The indiscipline in schools has origins at home — though not entirely.
Peer pressure and a legal system that outlawed corporal punishment are also to blame. Teachers are now spectators on matters of discipline, and their job is not as noble as it used to be. How did missionaries maintain discipline in schools?
Kenyans are very young — 42 per cent of the population is aged 14 and below, compared with Japan’s 13 per cent. Taking caring of the young generation is not an option for the Government and other institutions. The way we treat this age group will determine if we become a Swahili Tiger or Hyena.
The writer is senior lecturer, University of Nairobi.
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