Poor parenting is among the major factors that have taken a toll on the fight against drug abuse among students, Machakos County’s Katani Secondary School Principal Nickanor Arum has said.
Arum said that unless parents take their roles seriously, the vice will continue to pose a challenge to the education sector.
The school head stressed on the need for comprehensive support systems outside school to address such issues, urging parents to counsel and guide their children.
Having been a teacher for almost three decades, Arum said that most parents do not deal with the root cause of their undisciplined children and resort to transferring them from one school to another.
“The main challenge has been parenting, with proper parenting a child can be guided right from a young age. However, due to various issues such as work, parents have no time for their children. These children are then brought to school and expected to change. Raising and guiding a child is a collective responsibility and if one party fails then the child is doomed,” he said.
He observed that drug abuse is a major problem in schools although it is rarely talked about and in some cases, it is found that the parents introduce their children to drug abuse.
In other cases, it is even harder when the parents are in denial and the school becomes their enemy.
“For those who have accepted and are being rehabilitated, it’s easier to guide and live with them but for those whose parents are in denial, it is a challenge because even if we guide them they will hear none of what we say,” he said.
By Agnes Orang’o
Get more stories from our website: Education News
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us at: editor@educationnews.co.ke
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
