*Say parents now relegate parenting to house helps, teachers
Stakeholders in the Education sector have blamed poor parenting for the moral decadence that is currently threatening the future of youths in the country.
The stakeholders, who spoke during a Ray Power FM’s virtual discussion on the topic ‘Growing Moral Decadence in Classrooms and the Blame Game,’ stated that parents were responsible for cultural decline by youths.
Lamenting that parents now relegated parenting to house helps and teachers, the Registrar of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof Olusegun Ajiboye, called on parents to stand up to the responsibility of taking care of their children.
Ajiboye, who was a guest at the programme, stated that parents of nowadays have failed in providing their children with the support and guidance needed for their proper growth and development, and advised them to do better in raising morally-sound children.
He frowned at the idea of parents shipping their children to schools and hoping that the teacher would perform some miracle saying, there is no school equal to a decent home, and that no teacher equal to a factual parent.
Ajiboye who lamented that parents have become slaves to their children, maintained his strong belief in the efficacy of corporal punishment in putting children straight.
He said, “I am a believer of the fact that if you spare the rod, you spoil the child. Children should be disciplined. Corporal punishment is allowed in schools. The law recognizes it.
“However, there are people to administer that; either the principal or the vice principal. We recognize that there can be excesses. That is the reason the law says that there are people that should do that. It is not for everybody. If we generally abandon the rod, what is happening now will be a child’s play to what will happen in the future”.
But Prof Mopeola Omoegun, a Fellow of the Counselling Association of Nigeria, disagreed with Ajiboye on the issue of corporal punishment, adding that it has negative impact on the children.
Suggesting measures like denial and time out to help straighten a child, Omoegun spoke on the need for parents to begin early by teaching the children sexual education so as to enable them know and report when they are being violated.
She however added that children cannot approach their parents to discuss issues bothering them unless the parents create time for them and make them their best friends and confidants.
Also speaking, a public affairs analyst, Francesca Ogulade, lamented that the value system in recent times has shifted from hard work and integrity to inordinate pursuit of money, adding that it is high time parents returned to teaching their children values such as dignity and integrity, and showing them the difference between right from wrong.
The discussants while agreeing that parenting in the digital age is different and more difficult, urged parents to monitor what their children watch and limit their level of access to video and online contents.
