11 Jun 2014

Monarch customary court President, Kgosi Gunny Moses has urged residents to take to heart issues pertaining welfare of their children.

Addressing residents recently in a Kgotla meeting, Kgosi Moses said parents have the right and responsibility to raise their children and teach them to be responsible leaders.

He however, condemned parents who use vulgar language and drugs in front of their children, explaining that such behaviour ends up being copied by children.

He also denounced the behaviour of combi and taxi drivers who engaged in intergenerational relationships with students, stating that it was the main cause of teenage pregnancy as well as the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Meanwhile, Ms Boipuso Lekau, school head at Phatogo Primary School stressed that young parents were educated and informed therefore they must integrate technology with culture and pass those developments to their children.

She said a nation without a culture is a lost nation therefore young parents should shun dumping their children with their grandparents. He encouraged them to play their role of raising their own children.

She said young parents should be role models to their children and should give them love and motivate them,which makes children to be stable and focused.

However, she criticised parents who deny children their rights by not sending them to school. Ms Lekau also stated that parents should collaborate with teachers in their children’s education by visiting schools and assisting them with homework.

Ms Kelibile Gaefele, Guidance and Counselling teacher at Selolwe Hill Junior school outlined that working parents were expected to buy their children complete uniforms, pay school fees and Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) fees.

She said such parents should also come to school to check the performance and welfare of their children and should avoid letting their children go to school with cell phones, laptops and radios since those gadgets distracted their concentration.

Ms Gaefele said that working parents should not let their children spend more time watching television because that could lead them to watch undesirable materials which have a negative effect on their development.

Mr Uyapo Julius of the Drugs and Narcotics Squad in the Botswana Police Service stated that some parents use drugs and also gave them to children.

He said Monarch Location was infested with dagga dealers, peddlers and users and stated that some residents abuse backyard gardens by planting dagga while majority of the habit forming drug was bought from neighbouring countries.

He stressed that youth businesses like barber shops and car washes were the main suppliers of drugs while most former criminals have diverted to selling drugs and they give some to students to sell at schools.

He urged the councillors to come up with law that can revoke licenses of businesses whose owners are convicted of selling drugs. Ends