By Emmanuel Elebeke

The Director of the Child’s Foundation Schools, Amuwo-Odofin, Mrs. Wunmi Bolarinwa has challenged government at all levels to return all the missionary schools back to the original owners to enable them return the schools to their former state of glory.

Mrs. Bolarinwa gave the charge during a prize giving and graduation ceremony and launching of the school maiden year book in Lagos.

For Nigerian schools to return to their old state of glory and capable of inculcating the right values and principles of life into the children, missionaries must be involved in the education process of the students.

This according to her, this will not only reduce street urchins in the society but also help in molding future leaders of the the country.

“I’m in support of the call on government to return schools to the missionaries. The reason is that those returned have started doing well unlike before. It will also lesson the burden of the government,”she pointed out.

The Child’s Foundation boss, who blamed high level of indiscipline and moral decadence among the youths on the parents, urged parents to monitor their wards at early stage of their lives and guide them against the negative influence of western life.

She also called on the government to address the infrastructure problem facing Nigerian schools. This she said would help in restoring quality of learning in the schools.

“It is interesting to train children in the proper way they should grow. Parents and teacher must not fail in their responsibility of molding children intrusted under their care in the most responsible way, in line with the value system of the society.

For us in The Child Foundation, we will continue to mold life with regards to our value system by impacting knowledge into the children. That should be the drive in keeping children in school, not in the interest to make money.

“It is not just learning academic alone, but also character and other basic values of life should be inculcated in them. It is what we put in them now that they will grow with. Another thing is that we try to copy a lot of things from the western world, which is not part of our culture and it is not helping.

“As much as we want to do that, we must not forget our own culture and value system.

That is why we are having irresponsible children. The films they watch on television are against our culture and are wrong. They do not respect their parents again. Giving them phone is wrong because it will lead them to steal.

It not part of civilization. The way out is not to relegate our couture to the background. Children should not be exposed too much to outside influence,” she said.

And for the nation’s education system to move forward, Mrs. Bolarinwa advised government to maintain consistency in the Nigerian education calender, saying that the continued inconsistency on the part of government, through frequent policies changes had not helped the nation’s education system move forward.

For her, parents should find time for their children and should stop putting much attention to their quest for money. Also, she posited that hiring trainers to loo after children is not the best parents should do for their kids but should be able to train their children by themselves.