Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley, as he greeted some of the students attending the opening ceremony of the Ministry’s Open Day as part of the activities to celebrate National Youth Week.
Students of the People’s Cathedral Primary as they view the work of the Youth Achieving Results programme during the Ministry of Youth’s Open Day yesterday as part of the activities being held to celebrate National Youth Week.
‘Set good examples’
Tue, 09/27/2016 - 12:00am
MINISTER of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley, believes that adults are not setting the right examples for children, and is making a call for them to get back to basics to address the challenges facing the nation’s youth.
He was speaking at the Ministry’s inaugural Open Day held at Sky Mall yesterday as part of the planned activities being held to recognise National Youth Week.
The Minister, who acknowledged that there has been significant debate about whether it should be mandatory for all children to join a national youth service, recalled that there were some parents who felt this would go against their child’s constitutional rights.
“...But I believe that if some of those parents who complained about breaches of Constitutional rights would take their parental duties a bit more seriously, the country would never have to debate a need for a national compulsory service.
“We are calling now at this time for better parenting. We want to know that our communities are better protected and we will join forces with all who have an interest in youth development in ensuring we can provide the avenues in which our young people could be safer in their communities, safer in their schools and of course as they move around various avenues, places of entertainment.”
It is against this backdrop that he urged young persons to join a community group, a youth group, the girl guides, scouts, cadets or any other group either in a community or a school. “It builds your character, your tenacity to be able to deal with issues that will arise from time to time. I want to take this opportunity to call on more parents to encourage their children to be part of organised youth development initiatives. Join a group, ensure that you can be part of some spiritual uplifting programme.”
Minister Lashley told the large audience in attendance, including several primary and secondary schools, that the society must get back to basics.
“We are here to provide that support, but Barbados as a nation needs to return to the basics. Fix the small issues that happen. A child that goes to school and defaces the wall, a child that drops paper on the ground, a child that is not obedient to your teacher, a child that does not have any manners... In Barbados our biggest problems is that we as adults are not setting the right examples,” it was further pointed out.
Some are sending children to Sunday school without attending church themselves. That is not a good example that you should set for our young people. So as we face some challenges, we can deal with these challenges but as a nation we have to return to the basics.
“Once we do that, and once we fix those basics I can guarantee that a lot of the intervention we are calling for today would not be necessary because parents, guardians, teachers, everybody are beginning to work in partnership in providing a more meaningful and holistic example for our youngsters,” the Minister said. (JH)