Teachers have been called upon to use the classroom as the forum for sensitizing youths to social issues pertinent to their welfare.
This call was made by Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence, as she addressed those gathered at the Women’s Advisory Committee’s 5th Biennial Delegates Conference on Tuesday last.
“You are all cognizant of the pressing challenges that beset our children among which are school dropouts, teenage pregnancy, suicide, cyber-bullying, rape, drugs, child-abuse and the list goes on. I know that each of you is tasked with the academic pursuits of your young charges which through no fault of your own are time-consuming because of the extent of the curriculum. However, we cannot lose sight of our responsibility to prepare our students for the outer world; their immediate environs and the society at large,” she highlighted.
Noting that as educators they would be defeating the purpose of molding and nurturing the child if these issues are brushed aside. The minister pointed out that in this era of globalization, youths should not be ignorant of the viciousness of the society, of the dangers which lurk, “we have to initiate the discussion making them aware of the challenges they may encounter and ways of dealing with them.”
Minister Lawrence also underscored the importance of guidance and training for young students, ” We must provide them with the opportunity to brainstorm, to interact with others and commit themselves to spreading the message. In many of our schools, there are academic as well as social clubs. We can encourage members of those clubs to include the social issues and in this way, we can begin to make inroads, to sensitize and to offer ways of dealing with issues as they arise,” she said.
The Social Protection Minister reiterated that her Ministry is committed to transforming the lives of its citizens, highlighting that the social issues abound and the Ministry alone cannot resolve them.
