Stakeholders in the Nigerian education sector say poor parenting is responsible for the moral decadence threatening to destroy youths in the country.
The stakeholders who spoke during a RayPower FM virtual discussion on the topic ‘Growing Moral Decadence in Classrooms and the Blame Game,’ cast blames on parents whom they argued have relegated parenting to house helps and teachers.
Professor Olusegun Ajiboye, Registrar of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), who was a guest at the programme, lamented 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.
While frowning at the idea of parents shipping their children to schools and hoping that the teacher would perform some miracle, Ajiboye reminded parents that, There is no school equal to a decent home, and no teacher equal to a factual parent.
He urged all parents to stand up to the responsibility of taking care of their children, maintaining that no parents should bring a child into the world if they are not ready to take care of it.
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.
“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,” the TRCN Registrar said.
“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 play to what will happen in the future.”
However, Professor 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.
While suggesting measures like denial and time out to help straighten a child, Omoegun spoke of the need for parents to begin early to teach the children sexuality 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 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.
