AKIFUMA MARION: Punishment will not end school fires

There has been a lot of tension in the education sector with dozens of schools being torched in different parts of the country.

This has sparked attention nationwide with a lot of focus shifting to the punishment of the students involved and solutions for dealing with this nightmare.

No one has thought about what prompts these students to do the unthinkable.

Could this reaction mean more than just the obvious reasons given for them torching schools?

Some of the reasons are pressure from teachers and the academic fraternity to recover the lost time when schools closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Could these students termed as the bad ones be dealing with mental health issues or trauma caused by poor parenting, peer pressure among others?

This may be affecting their academic achievement, physical health and negatively impacting relationships with friends and family members.

These issues have long-term consequences for students, affecting their future employment and overall health hence there act out with school arsons.

They may also be going through trauma, stress, curriculum overload and poor student-teacher relations for the unrest.

Others may be going as far as abusing drugs trying to find solace.

Finding out what is going on with these students may help the case of school arsons.

Penalties such as being locked out of the education systems will not only halt the students’ education but will also put out the hope of light for a better future the student has.

Edited by Kiilu Damaris