Dear Editor,
I happened to attend the customary ‘Sunday Lime’ at the sea walls this past Sunday upon the insistence of a friend leaving the country. I was utterly appalled at the large number of school-age children who were part of the revelry well into the early morning hours. These are the same children who we hope would be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for school come Monday morning. It was even more disturbing to see many of them engaged in picking up bottles and various forms of vending at that late hour.
But wait, it got worse, a sizable percentage were openly consuming alcohol, including most of the girls present.
I am certainly aware of the need for such outlets for our adult population, especially under the current economic and social pressures.
At the same time, however, we need to protect the most vulnerable among us, our children. We would all agree, I am sure, that such an environment is no place for our under-age youth, yet from all appearances, it seemed to be the norm.
I am also aware that various factions are trying to get the message across that our parents have a greater role to play in nurturing and protecting our youth.
The Ministry of Education must be commended for their efforts over the past month to make parents more aware of their obligations in the education of their children. Yet, all of this seems hardly enough given the clear displays of neglect and endangerment I observed. These children should be rounded up and their parents placed before the courts for these glaring offences. Maybe only after some of them are made examples of that others will fall in line. They are compounding a number of social problems currently facing our society and too many of us are idly watching on. Children that age are wholly incapable of withstanding the effects of alcohol and go on to make numerous costly social mistakes. Ultimately it is the society that pays the penalty, while the cost to avert these is much smaller.
At the same time, more needs to be done to make our corporate entities who profit from these engagements more aware of their responsibilities. Far too little is being done in the way of public education and social responsibility.
A percentage of their advertising budget − advertisements which I must note seem to be increasingly geared to the youngest among us − should be stipulated for such awareness programmes. Of late, these ads directly target our school-age population. I noticed an establishment advertising a school clothes party recently. What message is this sending to our youth out there?
I call on all who have a role to play in protecting our young to be more involved, aware and proactive in addressing the social pitfalls our youths now face.
Yours faithfully,
Olato Sam
