UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR BY FORM IV LEAVERS SHAME THE NATION!

• WE CANNOT HEAL A WOUND WE REFUSE TO SEE

It is with deep concern, sorrow, anger and profound disappointment that we bring the above disturbing video to the attention of our readers. 

The language uttered by these young fellows is not merely careless, immature or inappropriate; it is a deeply troubling reflection of attitudes that should alarm every parent, teacher and responsible member of our society. 

These are young people who have just completed an important stage of their education and should be standing at the threshold of adulthood with ambition, discipline, dignity and a sense of purpose. 

Instead, we are confronted with words that trivialize responsibility, celebrate moral decadence and recklessness and reduce what should have been a proud moment of achievement into a spectacle of disturbing bravado. 

If such attitudes are allowed to pass as harmless fun, then we deceive ourselves about the seriousness of the challenge before us.

Some will undoubtedly accuse ZNK of giving oxygen to a video that ought to have been ignored. Others will say that by bringing this video into the public eye, we are embarrassing our nation and exposing our children to further ridicule. 

But ZNK is asking a more difficult question: what is more dangerous - exposing a problem so that society can confront it, or hiding it until it becomes normal?

Silence does not cleanse a society. Silence does not guide a child. Silence does not repair a family. And silence certainly does not make a wound disappear. A wound that is hidden, neglected and left untreated does not heal; it spreads, decays, deepens and poisons what surrounds it. We cannot heal a wound we refuse to see.

The purpose of ZNK is not to parade the weaknesses of our young people before the world, nor to turn their mistakes into permanent scars. Our purpose is to sound an alarm. If their words in the video shock us today, then let that shock awaken us. Let it awaken parents who have become too distant from the lives of their teenagers. 

Let it awaken teachers who are struggling to shape character in an age dominated by social media and instant attention. Let it awaken communities that are often quick to condemn after the damage is done but slow to intervene while attitudes are still being formed. And above all, let it remind every one of us that the moral education of a child cannot be outsourced entirely to the school, the government, the mosque, the church or the society.

That is why we at ZNK want the work to begin at home - the first battlefield to be the home.

And to professionals such as Dr. Shaaban Fundi, who is deeply involved in shaping the future of children through the work being done at Kibogoji in Turiani (Morogoro), this video should serve as an important eye-opener. Education cannot be measured only by examination results, certificates or the number of years a child spends in school. It must also help to shape character, judgment, self-respect and a sense of responsibility. 

What we are hearing and watching from the above video should remind us that the task of preparing the next generation is much greater than teaching children how to pass examinations; it is also about preparing them to become responsible men and women capable of carrying the dignity of their families and their nation into the future.

We must also have the courage to examine ourselves. It is easy to stand on public platforms and preach about morality, discipline, culture and national values. It is easy to condemn the behaviour of other people's children. But what happens when the very attitudes we denounce outside are already taking root inside our own homes? 

What happens when we defend the nation loudly in public while failing to notice that our own sons and daughters are being shaped by influences we neither understand nor challenge? There is little value in waving the flag of national virtue while neglecting the moral condition of the household beneath our own roof.

That is why this conversation must go beyond these particular young people. They are not the whole problem; they are a warning sign. The real question is whether we, as adults, are prepared to look beyond the spectacle and confront the conditions that produce it. 

If we truly care about the future of Tanzania, then our concern must begin not with humiliation, but with responsibility; not with mockery, but with guidance; not with hiding the wound, but with treating it before it becomes something far more difficult to cure.

Therefore, together, let us begin to heal it.

ZNK/