By MARTIN NYIRENDA –
A SPECIAL educationist has called on young parents to impart acceptable morals in their children in a quest to avert the collapse of family structures in society.
Margaret Newa, who is Vice Principal at Ndola’s Crossway College of Education, urged society to help cultivate a culture of instilling acceptable moral values among communities.
Ms Newa said addressing issues affecting children should attract policy input of parents, including societal leaders both in the private and public sectors.
She attributed the ever rising number of street children to disturbed environment in homes they come from, stressing that young parents should share facts of life with their children.
Ms Newa, who has more than 27 years in the teaching practice special education experiences, urged parents to ensure their children acquire basic education to make a meaningful living than wait for handouts which may not be available on a daily basis.
“Most of these children on the streets need help not because they have no families but because they may be disobedient at home and are failing to adhere to instructions about life from their own parents hence they run away from homes,” she said.
Ms Newa said there was need for society to put in place strategies to improve the plight of children as well as dependants at community level to ensure they were helped to develop acceptable good morals as they grow to become responsible leaders of tomorrow.
“This is because at the end of the day, parents bear the brunt of consequences resulting in their failure to manage affairs of children under their custody. That is the reason children should get into mainstream education so that they learn and acquire basic knowledge so that they are independent in life,” she said.
She stressed the importance of parents taking advantage of the free education policy which aims at catering for the poor, orphans and other vulnerable children who because of costs could not participate in the formal education system.
“The Re-entry Policy is important. Teenage pregnancy rates were high before the introduction of this policy as many girls were unable to finish school. School girls who fall pregnant would not be expelled and instead would be allowed to return to school,” she said.
She urged society to embrace the culture of allowing learners to devote their strengths on acquiring basic education so that they were able to interpret what was bad and right in life.