No innocent teenager sets a dormitory on fire out of the blue. There must be a big problem with a student who does this, and the parents probably have an idea.
It is also possible that the busy lives parents lead have made them miss a few critical behavioral signs that need addressing.
Whatever the case, there is something that society is doing or failing to do that is making teenagers vent in totally unacceptable ways. And the nuclear family is the teenager’s closest social unit.
Some of the Bad Behaviour Teenagers Learn from Society
The flimsiness with which society has taken to simplifying crime is unbelievable. And so the young ones have followed suit. When rape occurs in the family, it is often swept under the carpet. What do the teenagers in the home learn from that response?
Tens of dead bodies were found in Kware, Nairobi, a few years back. There was genuine shock from the hapless of society. However, those charged with the pursuit of justice have not shown Kenyans much to suggest the gory discovery was taken seriously.
Other dead bodies had earlier been found in the River Yala. The same script had been followed. It was as though the bodies never owned a life or a soul before they became morbid. It was as if those were not people who meant something to families somewhere.
How can a country be satisfied with collecting dead bodies and disposing of them en masse or in any other way, without caring to know how the people met their deaths? Questions like these must arise. After all, they say that justice need not only be done, but be seen to be done.
Kenya has a multi-billion-dollar forensic laboratory.
Where is the country headed? Did Kenya not invest billions of shillings to establish a forensic laboratory? What has been accomplished in that laboratory to justify the taxpayer’s money spent?
Would it not be a great idea for the public to see a list of cases solved using that forensic laboratory?
As Kenyans in the diaspora keep saying, the problem is not necessarily taxation. All of them say they pay taxes wherever they are. However, they receive many services for free because the government provides them through tax revenue. If a crime occurs, for instance, investigators use all available means, including forensic methods, to solve it.
President Uhuru Kenyatta commissioned the forensics laboratory for use two months to the end of his second term. It was a significant milestone that few African countries have achieved. But which cases have been solved using it? Does the taxpayer have any idea?
It is not an exaggeration to say that if the average Kenyan knows any benefits of a forensic lab, it is from movies shot abroad. Yet Kenya has a modern one right here. This reality is nothing to be proud of.
Hate Speech and Bullying with Impunity
Back to teenagers and where they pick up bad behaviour: Teenagers probably also pick up bad behaviour from hate speech. Hate speech does not need to be punished by law. Voters have the best weapon – the vote. But how well do they use that legal weapon?
If a vote seeker becomes a perpetrator of hate speech, why not ignore them at the ballot and vote for someone else? Voters reward bad and dangerous behaviour when they vote for hate perpetrators.
Suppose teenagers witnessed someone losing votes owing to hate speech? Would that not be one way to show the consequences of bad antagonistic behaviour?
The Youth are Impressionable
While the youth may not be exactly like children, where the “monkey see, monkey do” principle largely applies, they are impressionable. They easily learn by seeing.
They may think that bullying makes one appear strong just because they see prominent people do so without repercussions.
The domestic fighting they sometimes see at home may also carry over to school. When a parent schemes to hurt the other parent emotionally, physically, or otherwise, the children may pick up that behaviour. Hence, the hateful and destructive behaviour that is witnessed in cases of arson. How unfortunate!
Handling of Arson Cases
Findings of investigations into cases of arson are not to be considered like theoretical papers for periodic reference. They need to be reviewed and firm recommendations made.
There needs to be a clear, standard course of action in the event that the school administration detects potential threats from students. These actions do not need to prioritize the expulsion of suspected students.
Instead, the suspects may be referred to a certain body or bodies for age-appropriate interrogation and counseling. In irredeemable cases, then expulsion may be considered for the safety of everyone in the institution.
However, for now, the current CS for Education, Julius Ogamba, deserves commendation for keeping Kenyans updated on the developments of the sad case of Utumishi Girls Academy.
Another person to be commended is Governor Irungu Kang’ata, who, within minutes of Gacarage Girls Secondary School catching fire, gave his constituents and Kenyans in general an update on the situation.
The Gacarage fire was the second fire incident in one day. Fortunately, this one had no casualties.