A new breed of unruly, disobedient and hard drugs-consuming students is on the rise because of irresponsible and absentee parents.
According to Nakuru County Coordinator for Children Affairs Sheikh Abdi Yusuf, a lot of the intolerable behaviour being witnessed in schools across the country is because youths have been left by their parents to explore life on their own.
Speaking in his office on Monday, the coordinator accused some parents of allowing their children to grow in comfort zones that are according to him, too dangerous.
“Some parents are too protective in that they tend to side with their children even when they are sure that the child is on the wrong,” he said.
Things such as a lot of pocket money, expensive gifts and not being involved in a child’s out of school activities has led to adaptation of queer traits that make the children hate school and being controlled.
“Who is to blame for what is happening? All parties have a role to play in a child’s upbringing and any lapse in between proves a milestone as far as discipline is concerned,” he noted.
“Teachers might not be everywhere to monitor a student. Ignorant parents are really sabotaging teacher effort in our modern society,” added the children's officer.
Over the past few days, schools have been on the spot on how students behave out of school with the onset of the August holidays which according experts, has exposed the disconnect between teachers and parents.
Last week, two drunken students were frog-marched to Nakuru’s Central Police Station from the main bus park for being drunk and disorderly. This is one of the many incidents about misbehaving students that made headlines last week.
Similarly, a wave of school fires and student strikes has hit different institutions across the county with stakeholders saying that the situation is as a result fear of exams.
Sheikh Abdi advised parents to be role models to their children so as to minimise cases of blame game being witnessed.
“As a parent, you are the first teacher to your child. Children tend to emulate what you do. If you take a child in a bar, be sure that child will access a bar alone next time,” he said.
He called on parents to exercise good parenting for a safe and mature society which will breed the caliber of leaders the country needs tomorrow.