Adults should lead by example

I WRITE in support of last Friday’s editorial “Make education compulsory”.
I would like to point at the issues that keep many young people out of school.
They should be addressed in case the parliament hopefully legislates in that sense.
The geography of Papua New Guinea is challenging, especially for elementary and primary school students: long walks, mountains to climb, rivers to cross, only a canoe to travel from small islands to the school on the mainland.
Other challenges include hot sun, rain, hunger and fatigue.
It can be disheartening if parents do not support and encourage their children every day.
Social complications such as poverty, high number of siblings, poor perception by parents and elders of the importance of education; and the reason for too many children out of school is clear.
But the harder the challenges, the stronger the need for planning and working to equip the new generations with the needed skills and competence.
It is in fact heartbreaking when the main obstacles to education are the parents themselves, the elders and adults in general.
In some areas, people still persist the idea that teenagers should be forced into marriage, make garden and raise pigs for feasting and social prestige.
There is nothing wrong with a healthy traditional village lifestyle, but it is time to let young people decide on their own and support them for what they see as giving meaning and fulfillment to their lives.
Several new alcohol producing entrepreneurs have seen the business opportunity in our society.
Now the increase in offers and the reduction of costs are causing households and settlements to be flooded by alcoholic beverages, which empty the wallets and obnubilate the brains.
The results are further social unrest, health hazards, and diminished family resources for critical investments such as the education of children.
It is for the adults to fight the plague of alcoholism for themselves and the younger ones, reject the arrogance and ignorance that comes with it, uphold their personal integrity; and acknowledge that the care of children and their formal education is their primary duty: till they can walk by themselves into society well trained and fully responsible.

Fr Giorgio Licini,
Catholic Bishops Conference