First Lady wants seminars to teach parents their responsibilities

The First Lady and Minister of Education, Ms Janet Museveni, has rallied government to organise parenting seminars aimed at teaching parents their responsibilities in order to reduce the increasing cases of violence against the children.

"Parents do not want to take responsibility of their children. We need to do parenting seminars so that we can let them know that education is a shared responsibility," she said.

Ms Museveni made the remarks on October 20 during a public lecture organized and held virtually at Uganda Christian University (UCU)- under the theme ‘‘Christian family in the postmodern era.’’

According to her, ‘‘many parents have neglected their children during the Covid-19 pandemic and victims of violence now blame the government for not reopening schools.’’

She said teachers are not the only ones to take care of the children but it is also a parent's responsibility to keep his or her child safe.

The First Lady also noted that there is need to save the vulnerable groups in Uganda during this pandemic as she also called for empowerment of women in rural areas.

Dr James Magara, the Dean of UCU School of Dentistry said parents should always caution their children to ensure safety.

"Since Covid-19 affected us, some parents decided to buy their children gadgets but they use them to search for what is not necessary to them,” he said.

 Church of Uganda Archbishop and Chancellor of UCU, Dr Stephen Kaziimba expressed concern over increasing teenage pregnancies and alarming content that children are predisposed to due to staying home following the closure of schools in June due to Covid-19.

"As the Church, we have the role to protect our children and families," he said.

In Uganda, authorities have continuously reported a surge in cases of gender based violence even as students are set to remain home until January 2022 when the country hopes to meet a government target vaccination of over seven million people of its over 41m population.