04 Dec 2013

Central District scout commissioner, Mr Gaebonwe Baikitse says the scout association is working on reviving scout clubs in schools.

Speaking in an interview, Mr Baikitse said scout clubs used to be one of the most popular clubs amongst students way back, but that changed with the introduction of new clubs. He said some schools’ scout clubs were no more hence the need to promote it in schools.

He said other than the introduction of new clubs in schools; there were many factors that contributed to loss of members citing severe punishments that were associated with the club. That, he said, contributed to the collapse of scout in many schools as students were intimidated to join the club.

However, Mr Baikitse said scout haddeviated from drilling and punishments and was working towards contributing positively to young people’s lives as well as the community at large. He said scout provided basic life skills to young people in order to help them overcome the challenges they encounter. “A scout should have courage in all difficulties,” he said.

He said scout also introduced scout mile, where scouts engage in minor community projects hence a need for out of school youth to have scout mile within their communities. However, he said scout clubs were faced with many challenges in particular financial constraint which compels his office to minimise activities such as camps.

Also, he said shortage of transport was also a challenge particularly when students were due to attend scout camps. Ends