The road ahead and what to learn from students destruction

Painful and worrisome as it is, the wave of student destruction of secondary schools which already runs into hundreds of millions if not billions already lost, should force a think through and planning for the future. Of course this wave has its deep foundation in a multiplicity of causes .One frequently mentioned is the exam cheating systems and cartels, something that seem to have been perfected and the game played in a Mafia style. It seems that we have a country which many systems which include fight against corruption under siege of ruthless cartels. That’s for another day. What these students’ criminal activities should do is give a very strong early warning signal.

Look at it this way. The numbers in schools say even at the secondary level alone is not small. The number of Kenyans below 18 years who are a critical segment of the country population that will influence so much in the next few years is a huge chunk of the total population. This is a group any country that is focused on sound economic growth and sustained political influence and security would be proud of. The context of this unrest is a bit unsettling. Yet still this is a generation growing in the fourth industrial revolution where technology more so communication type is driving and shifting the economies dynamics in a fundamental way. That the group in secondary school is expressing their displeasure in a manner that looks viral and violently for that matter, it’s a statement that all is not well.

Moreover, that fraudulent means of acquisition of good grades through exam cheating system has already been an established order is quite scary. Surveys conducted a few months ago indicated that young people don’t abhor corruption so long as they are not caught. After all, how will they hate corruption if tales of riches in Kenya have a significant input of corrupt acquisition?

In a more fundamental way, going by the trends and the ominous economic dispensation we have been struggling with for a while plus the problems of corruption and tribalism that have encumbered our nation for long and still holding sway on matters self-progress and development and manifested in politics in a big way, this has a huge impact on the students psychology as well. On the surface it may be viewed as a purely schools cartels and juvenile behavior or immature emotions that are exploding, but deeper there is a wound.

Struggling with matters unemployment and poverty and with limited opportunities for self-development is not a good atmosphere to raise children. Education has for long been viewed as catalyst for class mobility. It still remains the best mechanism to ensure self-development and country aspirations for higher goals at different pillars. But when you have an environment that doesn’t guarantee this, there is bound to be a problem. What is happening is like fire being light in a ground with spillover of petrol, dry leaves, and dry grass and in a very dry weather environment.

The solution has to be whole. We must first engineer sense of responsibility to these young minds. It starts there and some guidance is required on strategic reasoning. In the prevailing environment teachers have a very difficult task managing the young minds. Some of these are quite spoilt coming from the rich or the expanding middle class; others who are the majority, come from poor backgrounds but operating in an environment that hinders visualizing a better future for themselves. On the macro level we must sort out our politics and economy in a fundamental way. By the way you can imagine what type of leaders these young people will be picking in future. Don't be surprised getting some quite strange characters in power realms.

On the positive side in a sea of this mess, these guys would realize they have common problems which are not confined to their tribes or social class. In a nutshell they hold the key to destroy the evils of tribalism and corruption that keep this country backward.

 

 

Harrison Mwirigi Ikunda

Nairobi.

THE WRITER IS A RESEARCHER AND CONSULTANT