BY MURIUKI A.J
Every time a school dormitory goes up in flames, every time parents gather outside school gates in anguish, and every time young lives are lost through acts of student violence, Kenya is forced to confront a painful question: What is happening to our children?
For years, blame has been directed at schools, teachers, education policies, social media and academic pressure. Yet despite numerous reforms and heavy investment in education, cases of unrest continue to rise, often with devastating consequences.
Perhaps the conversation has been focused on the wrong place.
The growing crisis in schools may be a reflection of a deeper problem unfolding in many homes. Increasingly, parents are surrendering the responsibility of raising children to institutions while becoming less involved in their moral, emotional and disciplinary development.
Many children spend most of the year in boarding schools, leaving teachers to fill roles traditionally occupied by parents.
Yet when schools raise concerns about discipline, some parents rush to defend their children rather than work with educators to correct troubling behavior. In doing so, they undermine the very authority needed to guide young people.
The result is a generation that appears increasingly impatient, entitled and resistant to accountability. Incidents of students destroying property, setting schools ablaze and endangering fellow learners point to a disturbing erosion of values and respect for life.
No curriculum can replace parental guidance. No teacher can fully assume the role of an engaged mother or father. Values such as discipline, responsibility and respect are first learned at home.
This reality demands a bold national conversation. Should Kenya reconsider its heavy reliance on boarding schools and strengthen day-school systems that allow parents to play a more active role in their children’s lives?
While boarding schools have produced generations of successful Kenyans, extraordinary times may require extraordinary reflection.
The future of the nation depends not only on what happens in classrooms but also on what happens around dinner tables, in living rooms and within families.
The greatest gift parents can give their children is not expensive schools or the latest gadgets. It is presence. It is guidance. It is correction. It is love.
If Kenya is to save its children, parents must reclaim their place at the center of their upbringing before it is too late.
For the sake of our children. For the dignity of our teachers. For the future of our nation. ABOLISH BOARDING SCHOOLS AT LEAST FOR A WHILE.
–The writer comments on topical issues
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