Follow Us on Google
Education remains the best legacy in life. Secondary school education is a major part of the formative years, which fall under pre-adulthood. This stage of life ushers in young people into puberty and stabilization of character, which begins to form from the toddler age. The secondary school years are delicate and could even be perilous for the pre-adolescent child. Not all young people are able to manage the freedom that comes with attaining secondary school age, successfully.
This is the stage where raw talents are discovered, jinxes are broken, and excellence starts to spread its tentacles to other aspects of life. It is also the point in a child’s life when the seeds of immorality and other bad behaviour sown by bad company begin to germinate and manifest, if not nipped in the bud.
The ‘stealing’ aspect, which is considered the worst, is the focus of this piece. The menace of stealing has crept into, and taken a strong grip on, the lives of the young ones in different secondary schools. Students have given different names to stealing. What makes greater problem is the fact that most young people in school, who are engaged in the deadly practice, somehow take it as a fundamental part of school life. The Bible, all religions and tradition of all ethnic groups on earth, strongly condemn stealing. Of course, stealing in schools has always existed, but the present brazen boldness with which students steal today is very worrisome. One begins to ask, when will the demon behind this bad exorcised or will the practice continue? Is it really part of ‘school life’ which would be dropped later in life or will it continue until the child graduates into a heavy fraudster or thief in adulthood. What is more worrisome is that this evil practice is trickling into the lives of younger ones. It has gotten as bad as hearing parents complain that innocent young ones get into school and come back home as mini-criminals because iron has sharpened iron in school. Only God knows what goes through the minds of thieves as they pick other people’s items. There is no constituted authority, including the home, that will tolerate stealing. Rather, the culprit caught in the act receives due punishment for it. Stealing starts gradually and spreads its tentacles like an octopus with time. When a student would not take his covetous eyes away from another student’s provisions, clothing and other belongings, that’s how the foundation for stealing is laid. You may wonder what actually leads students to steal from fellow students. Factors like lack, quest to have it all, unhealthy competition, rivalry, and bad conduct play major role in making students yielding to the urge to steal. In most cases of stealing in school, it is the senior students that rob the junior ones. The senior ones exhibit this bad character and pass it on to the younger students. Stealing has become so rampant among male and female students, boarders or day students inclusive. The evil seniors who compel the junior students to provide them money at all costs are the ring leaders in stealing game.
When one begins to hear statements like, “I will do my own when I become a senior,” that is a clear sign that the situation has become a vicious circle with no end at sight. Do we blame this on the home front? No, because not all homes are keeping quiet over manifestation of bad character like stealing. But, some homes could be accused of not setting their priorities right. Parents who show far greater interest in their career or business without equally very close attention to their children’s conduct should retrace their footsteps.
Picture this scenario that played out in the female dormitory in a secondary school. A senior student lost her underwear and could not find it. What did she do next? She ordered that all all the junior girls in that dormitory must contribute money to replace the lost item. Given that the senior student threatened fire and brimstone if the junior students did not comply with her order, one of the junior girls stole money from her classmates to contribute as her share of the ‘levy’ placed on them by the senior student. The other senior students borrowed a leaf from her and began to perpetrate evil. Before the term ended stealing multiplied in that dormitory because the seniors always ‘lost’ something which the junior students contributed money to replace.
Let me be clear, when you take what belongs to another person without permission (and with clear intent to keep it for yourself), no matter how little, that amounts to stealing. To teach her son a lesson against stealing, a mother went to the son’s school to pick him for vacation. Before leaving the school, she opened the boy’s suitcase before other parents and unashamedly displayed everything in the box, to cross check and ensure that her son was not going home with anything belonging to another student. Stealing starts with minute things like pen, books, clothes, shoes, wristwatches, money and then graduates to bigger objects. In a particular school, students broke into their ICT laboratory and stole the school’s computers, which they sold. Teachers’ offices have been broken into by bad students, to rewrite result sheets and steal whatever caught their fancy.
From schools, stealing can follow the culprits into the homes, offices, religious bodies, political offices, platforms and society.
It is said that every day is for the thief, but just one day is for the owner of the house. This came true for a certain person who was the financial secretary of a church. He stole church funds to live big, train his children, who all graduated, got into blue chip industries, married worthy men and women. He got many titles both in church and locally. They were a sought-after family. All of a sudden, life took a wrong turn for him. His children’s marriages began to crash.’ Loss of jobs followed and hardship descended on the once glitzy home. The situation prompted his last son to seek spiritual solution. During one of the prayer sessions a revelation came: “Your father stole money from the church to train his children and live big. He must go back to the church and make open confession and restitution.” The thoroughly embarrassed son broke the news to the family. And urged his father to do the needful before the church.
The big battle for the man was how he could stand before the congregation to confess that he stole money from the church. His son insisted and was able to convince him. The Sunday finally came. And he requested to make a statement. The priest not knowing what was up accorded him the usual respect. He came out with all his family members, including grandchildren, followed suit. There was pin drop silence. And he started to speak: “I want to confess that I stole church funds to enrich myself and to train all m y children. I want God to forgive me.” The congregation was so shocked that nobody uttered a word. When he finished speaking, the priest prayed and blessed him for the courage to face the entire congregation. This man had the opportunity to make amendments. What if such opportunity did not come the way of another man?
Another man was dealt with at the premises of a certain secondary school because he stole a woman’s phone. Students gathered to watch the free show as someone who dressed like a lawyer was dragged into the gutter because of phone.
Dear secondary school students, do you know that death penalty had been passed on convicted robbers who probably started stealing in school before graduating into bigger criminals? In the past, convicted armed robbers have been executed in their community by firing squad, in their community. Of course, several others received long prison terms. Just as some got instant justice and were burnt alive with tyre and petrol.
Dear students, if you do not want to get this sort of treatment, stop stealing now. Your life in secondary school should not bring sorrow, tears, and heartbreak to your parents. Concentrate on your studies, God’s word, teachings and it shall be well with you, Amen.
