Chief scout stresses on child discipline

By PISAI GUMAR
THE scouts movement is about disciplining children to grow up to become productive citizens, Morobe provincial chief scout Morokoi Gaiwata says.
At celebrations to mark the Scouts Founder’s Day celebrating 106 years of the movement, Gaiwata said at the Eriku Scout hall in Lae that “discipline” was embedded in scouts.
He said the movement taught children to develop their physical, mental and spiritual ability, to respect and love one another, to do their duty to God and the country and to take care of the environment.
Gaiwata said the national and provincial government had yet to “realise and recognise” the value and how important the role the movement played in shaping and moulding young boys into becoming productive law-abiding citizens.
“Scouts play a vital role in helping young people become better leaders in the family sphere and to embraces the community,” he said.
Gaiwata gave K30,000 that he had committed last year during his investiture ceremony as provincial chief scout and pledged to help again this year.
He encouraged the movement to expand into schools in the city and the province and to involve children.
“This is another crucial step to educate children and minimise law and order problems,” Gaiwata said.
Provincial commissioner Lt-Col (Rtd) Silas Moffat said “scouting is a unique organisation in which discipline is the key to prospering as humans and to become a better citizen”.
Provincial Scouts chairman Bob Howden encouraged Scouts to live up to the movement’s motto and to do well to others at all time.
He urge scouts to be a model themselves, saying that would reflect what was embedded within the movement for others to follow.
Troops from 1st Igam, 3rd Lae, police barracks, 1st Wopa, Bundi Camp, Lae Christian Academy and 2nd Salvation Army attended the celebration.
The scouts movement was founded in 1907 by Lord Robert Baden-Powell, a lieutenant-ge­neral in the British Army and has grown into a worldwide youth movement.
The movement employs the scouts method, a programme of informal education with an emphasis on outdoor activities.
including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking, and sports.
Another widely recognized movement characteristic is the Scout uniform, by intent hiding all differences of social standing in a country and making for equality, with neckerchief and campaign hat or comparable headwear. Distinctive uniform insignia include the fleur-de-lis and the trefoil, as well as merit badges and other patches.