Letters

LETTERS: Remedy for rampant school strikes needed

fire

Students inspect their damaged property after fire broke out in a dormitory. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Strikes in Kenyan schools are on the rise today. This can be attributed to long sitting class hours in most schools where learners are taught with short breaks in between.

Basically, the content imparted to the learners is burdensome and stressful.In most cases, schools today do not give students enough time to play during games time, and in some schools, students are only allowed to go to the field to play and exercise only on Monday and Wednesday.

This gives the students less time to play, relax and exercise thereby relieving their minds from the stress of reading books and long lecture hours.

To reduce stress, students should be subjected to a lot of free time to exercise and train in the field.

This can be done by perhaps introducing interclass completion where the winners are awarded. With such an activity, all the students will be involved in the exercise both in the field and out of the field through cheering squads.

Schools, therefore, need to extend the time the learners go play and perhaps make it a routine practice that is Monday to Friday and not only selected days in the week.

Additionally, learners should be allowed to have entertainments over the weekends which is a form of releasing stress and breaking the monotony of class work and doing of assignments all the time.

Schools should capitalise on clubs and societies.

This is where students take part in the organisation and planning of activities such as school cleanups by the environmental clubs.

The peace club should be championing for peaceful coexistence around the school and even in the entire society.

Debate clubs, on the other hand, will ensure that students can articulate issues and explain themselves well, which will make them also to be able to explain the general issues they are facing in schools that can inform the immediate solution that the school will take to remedy the challenge faced.

Taking roles of leadership by students is a form of commitment and dedication towards achieving certain essential course like maintaining peace and thus fewer unrest cases in schools.

Finally, the mentorship programme should be started in schools where learners are given a mentor who can resolve issues and help them both at the group level and even individual level.

This will help in solving problems immediately before it becomes a school concern. This will help in reducing the unrests in Kenyan schools.

Moses Kipleting, via email