Rising cases of violence, bullying in schools worrying

It is no secret that bullying and violence is prevalent in high schools in Kenya especially in boy schools.
As the country comes to terms with shocking cases of violence in schools, the Jamhuri High School incident where seven students were seriously injured during a fight is not an isolated one.
And according to a recent study the vice may not be resolved quickly.
It has become so common that it’s accepted by the student populace as a rite of passage while the administrators in some cases have turned a blind eye to it.
Bullying frequently involves teasing and social exclusion, physical violence, threats, theft, sexual and ethnic harassment, public humiliation and destruction of the targeted student’s property.
Bullyinwg has a negative impact on everyone involved; the target, the bully and the bystanders.
Students who are bullied are more likely to: feel disconnected from school and not like school, have lower academic outcomes, including lower attendance and completion rates, lack quality friendships at school, display high levels of emotion that indicate vulnerability and low levels of resilience, be less well accepted by peers, avoid conflict and be socially withdrawn and have low self-esteem among others.
Those who witness bullying regularly suffer from a less secure learning environment, the fear that the bully may target them next and that teachers and other adults are either unable or unwilling to control bullies’ behaviour.
No doubt today, society is more polarised, the language of strikes and violence is spreading across the country.
This trend of events gives students, who are arguably at the most vibrant and radical stages of their life, the impression that borrowing a leaf from those who achieve change through violence will work in their own situations.
Humans are influenced by what they see, there is that tendency to copy and try out what they see and try to solve own challenges, that is why you find in one region, schools going on strike in a successive order.
They (students) imagine they too can achieve what their peers on the other end achieved by going violent regardless of unique circumstances.
Schools need to assertively confront this problem and take any instance of violence or bullying seriously.
Addressing and preventing bullying requires the participation of all major school constituencies, school leaders, teachers, parents, and students.
By taking organised school wide measures and providing individuals with the strategies to counteract the vices, schools can reduce the instances of bullying and be better prepared to address it when it happens.