23 Sep 2013

Children’s moral decay and poor academic performance come about partly as a result of parents’ lack of responsibility in their children’s upbringing, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Peter Siele has said.

Addressing a Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) meeting at Maokane in Mabutsane Sub-district recently, Mr Siele noted that in the last two years, children’s performance in the examinations had declined because parents did not play their role properly. He said it was wrong for parents to expect teachers to solely assume the role of moulding children because the latter’s role was to teach.

“Children spend only eight hours in a day with teachers at school, while the remaining 16 hours is spent at home with parents. Let us all assume our roles to address this situation,” he explained.

He said there was a lot of moral decay and students destroyed school properties yet parents did not want to take responsibility. He also cautioned parents against selling drugs to young children as drug abuse in schools was one of the biggest challenges this country was facing.

He urged attendants to come up with strategies that could change the status quo and save the children’s future. The minister said people should not hide behind the Children’s Act and Childline because these did not call for parents to abandon their roles in raising their children.

Maokane Primary School headteacher, Ms Salome Dick noted that a lot of parents did not attend PTA meetings, which she said could help the two stakeholders to strategise on how to develop the school and improve performance.

The poor attendance, she said, contributed to the school’s poor performance. She noted that the school obtained a 63 per cent pass in last year’s Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE), which is a decline from 2011’s 69.5 per cent.

She also noted that some parents blamed their illiteracy on not helping their children with homework, something she said was a mere excuse. However, Ms Dick noted that they had resorted to hold their meetings alongside hiring people for Ipelegeng.

That, she said had worked for them because those coming to try their luck at Ipelegeng are told to attend the PTA meeting first. One of the parents, Ms Ompelege Ditsie called for stiff penalties for parents who neglected their children. She said that was the only way to get parents to assume their responsibility because the situation had gotten out of hand.

“Children are the future of this country, yet there are parents who did not care about their children’s education. Such parents should be punished so that they know this is serious,” she said.

Another parent, Mr Tlhotlhomiso Selokanyane said parents should be made to pay for government property destroyed by their children. That, he said, would make parents teach children well and be responsible for their behaviour. ENDS