- Elizabeth Kailemia urges parents to closely monitor their children throughout the school holiday.
- She warns that inadequate parental supervision can expose learners to teenage pregnancy and substance abuse.
- Kailemia calls for cooperation among parents, teachers, clergy and communities to safeguard children.
Meru County Woman Representative Elizabeth Karambu Kailemia has called on parents to be responsible and keenly monitor the whereabouts of their children during the holiday break in a bid to enhance their safety.
The lawmaker regretted that many Kenyan parents are in a hurry to make money to meet their financial obligations without caring about the whereabouts of their children during the school holidays.
Speaking during a press conference in Meru town, she regretted that many innocent learners end up falling prey to men, leading to teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, among other vices.
“As the mother of the county, I am very worried about how we bring up our children. Many parents are in a lot of hurry to make money and don’t care where their children will spend their holidays. Ironically, the majority of the parents are happy only during the opening days when they hand back the parental responsibility to the teachers, clergy or caregivers,” said Kailemia.
Parents urged to take responsibility
MP Kailemia called on all education stakeholders to consult regularly in a bid to coexist peacefully.
“We should work harmoniously with all education stakeholders, including teachers, parents, clergy and residents, in order to coexist and succeed. These are not their real parents, though they take care of our children. It is the responsibility of the parents to take care of their children from when they wake up in the morning to when they go to sleep, regardless of whether they are girls or boys,” said the lawmaker.
She said traditionally, children belonged to the entire community, where mostly aunties and uncles gave priority to their safety by regularly monitoring their whereabouts.
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“Ensure you know their whereabouts, including when they left and returned home. Parents should give priority to the welfare of their children, failure to which they will end up pregnant or become drug or alcohol addicts. This is despite paying for them the hard-earned school fees.
“It is unfortunate that many innocent children fall prey to men, ending up dropping out of school due to teenage pregnancy,” noted MP Kailemia.
By John Majau
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