By Isaac Salima:
At least three government secondary schools have been closed in the past two months due to vandalism acts, a development government officials and quality education activists have described as worrisome.
In the past 60 days, vandalism acts have prompted officials to close Robert Blake Secondary School in Dowa District, Nachitheme Secondary School in Ntcheu District and St John Bosco Secondary School in Mzimba District.
Recently, Mzuzu Government Secondary School students were suspended for instigating rebellious behavior.
Robert Blake was the first to be closed in September after students set on fire a school library, two science laboratories and a chemistry laboratory.
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The ministry then sent home all students before later recalling only form one students last month.
Form two and four students were told to register their names in other schools closer to where they stay.
On its part, Mzuzu Government Secondary School suspended 133 students who were sent home for alleged vandalism after they expressed dissatisfaction with water access and other challenges at the institution.
Last week, the education ministry temporarily suspended classes at Nachitheme Secondary School after some students set on fire a library and vandalised classroom blocks and hostels.
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And, in the latest development, classes were on Saturday suspended at St John Bosco in Mzimba after students threatened to set on fire school structures over poor diet.
The students have since been told to go to the school in the company of parents and guardians next week to discuss the issue.
Ministry of Education spokesperson Mphatso Nkuonera said recent developments are a cause for concern.
“In an effort to instill discipline in students, the ministry has reviewed guidelines for rules and regulations governing students’ conduct in schools.
“In addition, we are finalising guidelines for grievance redress in schools. We will also be conducting joint counseling sections for students in our schools in order to restore discipline among them,” Nkuonera said.
He added that the ministry wants to establish councils in schools so that students can be well represented in matters related to their welfare.
Quality education advocate Steve Sharra said while each case needs to be understood in its own context, there are some features that seem to be common.
“Most times, we only see short media snippets that do not provide detailed accounts from students and teachers. We also do not seem to have much educational research around these issues, which are now getting out of hand, while we all seem to be just watching. What seems to be a common denominator is that students are complaining about poor conditions, especially food, which points to funding problems.
“There have been more than a dozen front page headlines in the last few months decrying lack of funding, not only in education institutions but across the government system. Revenue collection is reported to be missing monthly targets and the government appears to be broke. The unfortunate thing is that there is no official communication on what is going on and school managers are left to deal with students and service providers who are demanding better food, payments, etc,” Sharra said.
Another education right activist Benedicto Kondowe said this points to the lapse of discipline in schools.
“Our focus has been on learning rather than on moral uprightness of these students. There have also been leadership gaps whereby students are not given the opportunity to contribute to decision-making in schools. As such, when students have grievances, there are no avenues for them to express them and this triggers vandalism,” Kondowe said.
Researcher Augustine Chikombe Tembo, in a study titled ‘A Phenomeological Analysis of Vandalism by Students in Secondary School: Perspectives of Teachers in Secondary Schools in Northern Education Division of Malawi’, indicates that both the students and teachers are at fault.
