Exploring the learners’ perspective on the causes and ways of dealing with vandalism in urban schools: The case of three selected secondary schools (from Lilongwe in Central West education divisions) in Malawi

Abstract

The study was meant to explore the learners’ perspective on the causes and ways of dealing with the vandalism in urban schools with special attention to the three selected secondary schools in Lilongwe urban. The participation was defined in terms of the learners who are deemed to be the chief culprits in cases of vandalism in schools. The study has been guided by the Social control and manageable space theories. The later assumes that academic tracking is an important factor in the school misconduct, while the former emphasizes the need for management which assumes most residents can learn and even seek out responsibility and exercise considerable creativity in participating in their communities, such as curbing vandalism. Data collection was through qualitative methods of interviews, focus group discussion and mainly thephotovoice. The study found out that most of the cases of vandalism in schools are orchestrated by the failure of school administrators to handle various issues concerning their welfare timely. In simple terms, poor administration is in most cases the chief cause of school vandalism by students. The main causes were: expelling students for no apparent or clear reason, not considering students complaints, lack of school maintenance, bad students diet, failure to provide entertainment facilities and lack of monitoring and tracking learners concern (e.g. Students graffiti on the walls). Several ways of curbing school vandalism were suggested. They include; negotiating and understanding (administrators and students) at equal footing (without one party domineering), need of cooperation between teachers and students, students self-control when expressing anger, good interpersonal relationships between teachers and students, considerations of students concerns/views, teachers to also think of the good of the students, quick responding to learners concerns by administrators and civic education (life skills and problem solving).