Chairman of the Retired Secondary School Principals Association of Kenya (RESSPAK), Makueni Chapter, Julius Mutwii, has said the escalating manifestation of lawlessness among students cannot be superficially attributed to institutional deficiencies or pedagogical negligence.
“Such reductionism obscures the multifaceted etiology of this malaise. The root causes are deeply embedded in formative upbringing, where erosion of moral scaffolding and inconsistent inculcation of discipline have engendered a generation increasingly susceptible to anomie,” said Mutwii.
Society and parenting under scrutiny
He added that society also bears responsibility through the glorification of impunity, the proliferation of unregulated digital influences, and the gradual normalization of deviant conduct as acceptable dissent.
The retired principal, who is also a former KESSHA chairman in Makueni County, noted that conspicuous parental gaps, characterized by diminished oversight, abdication of value transmission, and the substitution of material provision for emotional presence, have further exacerbated the vacuum in which delinquency germinates.
Shared responsibility
Mutwii regretted that teachers are often castigated for the behavioural entropy evident among learners, adding that parents should not ignore their responsibilities and blame teachers for every challenge affecting students.
READ ALSO: Lusaka urges parents to enroll Girls as Bungoma moves to boost education access
“What is urgently imperative are proactive, multi-stakeholder strategies: comprehensive parental education, revitalized community mentorship structures, robust school-family liaison frameworks, and early psychosocial intervention mechanisms.
Call for preventive measures
“The axiom that prevention is superior to remediation must transcend rhetoric and inform policy, for unless we collectively excavate beneath the symptomatic outbursts to address these foundational fractures, we shall perpetually treat effects while neglecting causes, and lament consequences we failed to forestall,” he said.
By Lydia Ngoolo
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
>>> Click here to read more informed opinions on the country’s education landscape
>>> Click here to stay ahead with the latest national news.
