The ghost in boarding schools and the rise of juvenile delinquents

How much do we truly know about our children once they leave for boarding schools? A disturbing wave of student youth-led violence in Bukedea, Amolatar, Apac, Lira and elsewhere across the country is forcing us to confront this question.

From the fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Miriam Acam, a student of Serere SS, the fatal stabbing of Odon Kenneth, a student of Kangai SS in Amolatar to the harrowing gang rape of a businesswoman in Lira City West by juveniles of 17 and 20 years of age, are crimes and not just security lapses. They are symptoms of a parental crisis.

The cost of parental absence

Recent tragedies illustrate a terrifying trend of lawlessness. In Kwania, students at Abongomola Seed SS allegedly beat up their peer, Solomon Lukori, to death over a stolen phone, even overpowering a watchman to complete the mob act.

In Apac, youth wielding pangas turned Easter celebration into a bloody clash between students of Apac Seed SS and youth in the community leaving several admitted to Apac General Hospital.

These are not seasoned criminals from the streets; they are our sons and daughters. For many parents, these children are viewed as “little angels” whom they sacrifice everything to educate in the best hooks they can afford.

Yet, while we focus on paying that tuition, we have inadvertently outsourced our children’s moral upbringing to their peers and little to school authorities whom they only meet during lessons and assemblies. We are paying for their certificates but losing their souls to fellow juveniles.

Shifting from reaction to prevention. To stem this tide of brutality, we must move beyond reactive policing and address three proactive pillars:

Reinstating the “Family Code of Conduct”: We must stop treating education as a hands-off transaction. The pressure to look for resources and the need to send children to good schools has overshadowed parental guidance so much that children are left in the hands of their peers to help them make informed decisions.

These are often laced with raw emotions, unfiltered conscience and fantasy world ways of problem solving.

Combating idleness with engagement: Youth unemployment and a lack of social amenities like playgrounds leave a vacuum filled by drugs and peer pressure.

Local leadership must proactively create economic and recreational engagements that channel youthful energy away from opportunistic violence and chances of being brainwashed into violence and local terrorism.

Community policing and early intervention: While the Uganda Police Force has made strides in arrests and prosecutions, security cannot be a substitute for character.

We need a strategy that integrates family counseling with community policing, identifying at-risk juveniles before their fantasy world problem-solving turns into a criminal record and community terror.

In a nutshell, the inadequate parental guidance and lack of a family compass has led to the rise in juvenile delinquents we see in our locality today; with youth roaming the night like nocturnal predators.

This act could be averted using simple family guidance and counselling to improve behavioural conducts and learning outcomes both in and out of school by their children.