This term, cases of school unrest have been on the rise.
Students have burnt their schools at a very alarming rate. In most cases, the learners have claimed they need a break to go home.
This is strange considering the school terms are 10 to 11 weeks as opposed to earlier ones of 14 weeks.
This crash programme was occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.
But even with such short school terms, the students were allowed to break for half term, therefore, shortening the term further to nine weeks.
However, the students still crave to go home for a break and now most of the schools have closed for the December holiday.
Students who burn schools may not be arsonists and criminals as society is labelling them.
These are our children and profiling them as criminals is a cheap way to run away from the stack reality.
We must talk to them and understand their predicament.
Branding them criminals and arraigning them in courts is just a knee-jerk reaction to a rather complex problem.
We cannot continue burying our heads in the sand hoping that the problem will just disappear. We are simply treating the symptoms and not the malady. The bottom line is, we must strike a balance.
Students appreciate teachers who have their best interests at heart.
When they establish that teacher so and so cares and has their best interest at heart, the students reciprocate by doing well in his or her subject.
Teaching is an emotional connection, not a physical exercise.
Sometimes high school teachers are petty.
Some of the reasons we give for denying students permission to go home are ridiculous.
Simply because a teacher wants to stamp his or her authority denies students permission even to leave the class to go and attend to the call of nature. That is cruelty.
Only sadists thrive on torturing students. Teachers must seek to understand their learners by putting themselves in their shoes.
We should make students voice a central consideration in all our shared experiences.
Some headteachers facilitate the burning of their schools by being big-headed.
High-hardness breaks all channels of communication.
Students resort to unorthodox ways of making the school listen to them.
For students to burn their schools, it means that communication channels are dysfunctional.
Heads of schools should also be found culpable whenever students burn schools.
Now that the students are home for the short holiday, let's talk to them, spend time with them and get to hear their issues.
This will compel them to cultivate dialogue aimed at ensuring that both parties are heard. This way, we can avert school unrest.
The writer is a career teacher
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
