I am hurt inside. I am hurt because of what is going on in our beloved country. I am weeping. Weeping for our children. The little children who are being trudged by the fighting bulls. The fighting bulls that are the government and the teachers.
For close to a month now, majority of schoolchildren have been having it “easy” the hard way. Staying at home, grazing the cattle, fetching firewood and water and doing other chores that warrant an alarm!
On Monday, as I headed home from work, I witnessed an incident that sent me into utter shock. It happened at around 7.30pm, just a few metres from my house.
As I approached the gate, I saw a group of not less than 10 youngsters at a corner. As I got nearer, I noticed two teenagers (probably secondary school age) engaging in some pushing and shoving.
Shortly, a fight erupted as they all started tearing into each other. They exchanged nasty words, in total disregard of the public.
The fight took a tragic turn when one of them pulled out what looked like a kitchen knife and stabbed his mate before he took off. More than half of the group fled, leaving three girls and a boy shocked and crying for their profusely bleeding friend.
Luckily, the young chap was rescued and taken to a nearby hospital.
From the information I have gathered, the form two student has been discharged and is recuperating at home.
He may be lucky to resume school perhaps if the current quagmire between the tutors and the government will reach an amicable solution.
It is disheartening to any parent to see their children wasting away because of other people's failure to find comprehensive ways to make amends.
It's not the first, and supposedly not the last time teachers will be downing the chalk.
The children suffering currently will not be the last lot to go through this harrowing moment. But it's time for all education stakeholders to seek a lasting solution.
As teachers in public schools shied away from the classrooms, their counterparts in the private sector were ever present. What happens when the national exam time comes? Students and pupils from the private institutions prevail.
It's an unfair disparity of circumstances that needs thorough address by the concerned parties. We cannot just sit back and watch as such injustice is administered on our children. We must stand up and act!
I may be one of the parents who still can afford to take their children to a private school, but what about those who lack such an ability? It is the future of these young souls that is getting wasted.
The foundation “we” laid for them was not as firm as it ought to have been. What will we have to show in about a decade or two down the line? A huge percentage of a generation whose intellect will be a far cry.
I was even more concerned about the direction of our children, when my four-year-old son asked me why his next-door friend had not been going to school.
I told him “walimu wamegoma”. He did not know what that meant and our discussion ended right there. I am still crying for the affected children!
