The boy-child needs help too

Numerous strides have been taken to fight for the rights of the girl-child. Many organisations, both local and international, have made it their life’s mission to see that the girl child has a fair chance at life, be it in the aspect of quality education, health, business, and other areas that pertain to life.

These efforts have borne fruit and the players in this field can rightfully pat themselves on the back. Even with all this work that has been accomplished, a lot remains to be done.

But what about the boy-child? Yes, there are some organisations and individuals that have made it their life’s mission to look out for the boy-child’s interests. But these are only a few compared to the need. What is the point of preparing girls to achieve the best in life when the boy-child is being ignored? Are these two not going to exist in the same world, share the same spaces, and work on the same projects? It is self-sabotage for some in our society to continue ignoring the boys and leaving them to whatever life serves them or leaving them to go rogue. And as it is with most aspects of life, this has to start from home, the family unit.

According to Unesco’s Leave no child behind: Global report on boys’ disengagement from education, “not less than 132 million boys of primary and secondary school age are out of school. The report shows supporting boys does not mean that girls lose out and vice versa. Addressing boys’ disengagement not only benefits boys’ learning, employment opportunities, incomes, and wellbeing, it is also highly beneficial for achieving gender equality and desirable economic, social, and health outcomes.”

Yesterday we reported that officials from the Lugbara Cultural Institution have called for better nurturing of the boy child to prepare him to be a better person in the future.

The elders said while the emphasis is being put on the better upbringing of the girl-child, the result has been rampant domestic violence spearheaded by what they call unruly husbands. The speaker of the Lugbara Kari, Dr Christopher Yiiki, said a deliberate effort needs to be put in place to prepare the boy-child into a responsible man.

“For a long time, the boy-child has not been strategically prepared to take on the role of the father and husband. The boy-child has been neglected in a way because society has prepared the boy-child to be like a king, they are not supervised.

These reactions followed recent dialogue meetings organised by Strategic Initiative by Women in the Horn of Africa involving men in Arua City.

It is therefore incumbent upon us, right from the family level to take special interest in the boy-child’s welfare and upbringing just as much as we do for the girl-child.