Should the hundreds of thousands of young people who are struggling to join Form One finally get the rare opportunity to go to school, their teachers and parents ought to keep reminding them that when they “grow up” and land their professional dreams they should remember to give back to society.
Equally, those learners whose parents can pay the school fees with a considerable ease should take the same route and give back.
Even those who are in private schools and are paying millions of shillings annually to go through some of the best curricula in the world have a reason to give back to society.
This kind of giving back is not the usual dipping of one’s hands into pockets and supporting causes either individually or under corporate social responsibility. No.
It is giving one’s best as an expert by not bending the rules or stealing from the taxpayer that took them to school in the first place through ways such as funding the bursaries. When they could not go past school gates until they paid school fees.
Through the government they got public scholarships and benefited from support that is the creation of public goods and private partners who dedicated part of their profits that could be reinvested or distributed to shareholders as dividends.
In fact, the government has had to endure bad press when the media prod the authorities to explain how the bursary billions have possibly been mishandled, leaving the most deserving by the school gates with empty, creaking, and rusty school metal boxes.
Also Read: Bright and needy: Is this Kenyan bursary formula hurting the deserving?
Some “bright and needy” walked to some of the national schools in torn slippers and were admitted before newspapers carried their stories the next day, an act that released an avalanche of support.
Why should someone like this forget and start looting public resources when they get a chance to work anywhere in the world?
It is worth noting that the Sh53,554 annual fees that top public schools charge is hugely subsidised and explains the role public causes in Kenya, where the government has invested billions of shillings in the 100 percent transition to secondary schools and TVETs is a success.
Why should learners who benefit from the public purse be told to ‘give back to the society’ by offering good services or A-Plain peformance?
It is the work of the government, through the teachers to ensure the learners living on public support do not turn into looters tomorrow. This calls for right instructions and guidance. Because when anyone loots through stealing or sloppiness, they are blocking the pipes that feed the society, including the ones that should feed the neediest of tomorrow.
Even those who go to the top private schools should support public resources because their schools are government-licensed and their teachers graduated from public universities.
Anybody bending rules, stealing from the public, or misusing State resources should know that is biting the hand that fed them during their formative days when they required public support.
