A quality assurance director in Kisumu has urged students to shun friends who influence them into drugs and immorality.
Elimu Yetu Coalition director Vivian Sirma said students, especially those in the informal settlements of Kondele, Obunga, Nyamasaria, Manyatta and Nyalenda, were more vulnerable to such influences.
The director said children who attend day schools are mainly influenced by their peers and those older than them in the estates especially during the weekends when they are not in school.
“The children, especially those living with their parents in the slums are often lured to houses of older youths living in the estates where they are exposed to drugs and introduced to illicit sexual relationships,” she said.
The call comes in the wake of concerns that many school going children have lost direction are instead engaging in all manner of illicit activities among them; sexual relationships, drugs and crime.
While some of them are noticed and guided early, others engage in such acts unnoticed until very late when teachers have no choice but to expel them from school.
The director said the only way out of the tragedy is for youths to preoccupy themselves with constructive ideas which will have meaningful impact on their lives.