In her address at a recent educational forum with GRTS, the principal of St. Therese’s Upper Basic School, Mrs Zono Jammeh, exhorted parents and society to join teachers in the inculcation of good morals in our children.

Mrs. Zono Jammeh, principal of St Therese’s Upper Basic, a school noted for their hard work and discipline, said parents and society are to blame for the lack of inculcation of good morals in their children.

Mrs. Jammeh said there were three forces that could support the child become a better person in society. These she said were the home, society and the school. She has blamed society for being complacent in child discipline. She said society sees children dress in a bad way but would never correct those children. They see children leave their houses for school but go to play stations. Society, she said, does nothing to help these children. Society should help the child grow. Mrs. Jammeh said, “When children do the wrong thing teachers would not be there but they do it in the society and the society does nothing to control them.”

The society and parents have failed their children. “They are not disciplining their children. Teachers spend less time with these kids than the society or the home. Disciplining children should be a concerted effort and not a one man’s show.” There are parents who do not even check their children’s work from school and never come to see them at school. They have failed their children, she said regretfully.

Mr. Conteh, a Science teacher at the school, demonstrated the participation of the education department, the schools participation, and the society’s involvement in bringing up the child, in practical terms. He cut a card board in a triangular shape and placed a flask to represent the child. When held by two the flask fell but when the three of them held it, it was stable and lifted high.

Mrs. Jammeh summed up in these words, “a child is grown at home, watered at school, and harvested by society”.