AIDS, Children And Parental Responsibilty.
A study by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry has shown that 95.5 per cent of youths aged between 13 and 24 years in the country know about HIV and AIDS! 46.3 per cent of the respondents were also aware about family planning methods.
I hope these figures truly reflect the level of awareness of our youth. If the number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases treated by medical practitioners is any indication, then despite this so-called awareness, they still fall victim to these deadly microbes at an alarming rate. Add to this the frightening statistics regarding drug abuse, especially intra-venous mainliners, and we have a rough idea of the immensity of the problem that unfortunately cannot be swept under the permaidani. Therefore to present such simplistic figures and then draw conclusions that everything is ok is very dangerous and only serves to breed complacency.
It cannot be denied that the level of promiscuity in society is much higher now than say 50 years ago. It is not that the youth of yesteryear were saints; the 'opportunities' available today were simply not there then. In the fast moving era which is the present, certain conditions serve to encourage the practice of a less than healthy lifestyle. Foremost among these must definitely be lack of parental supervision. Therein lies the crux of the whole problem. The other factors are merely ancillaries, which if impartially viewed, still spring from the main cause - irresponsible parents.
Large families with low incomes is one of the major reasons for much of what ails our youngsters. The older generation for some reason or other did not heed the advice for contraception and are guilty of producing large numbers of children with little time or resources to devote to all of them. We cannot pass the buck to the teacher and expect them to perform the duties of a mother or a father. It is patently unfair to the teacher and more so to the children. Thus over time we raised a generation of unsupervised kids who who grew up and learnt the lessons of life by 'trial and error'.
Even now it is not too late. We can still salvage something from this mess, only if we cut down on the 'production-line' at home and concentrate on quality and not quantity. Children should play heartily, study diligently and not sell 'karipap' or goreng pisang to supplement the family income, all because their parents did not want to control their libido.
I hope these figures truly reflect the level of awareness of our youth. If the number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases treated by medical practitioners is any indication, then despite this so-called awareness, they still fall victim to these deadly microbes at an alarming rate. Add to this the frightening statistics regarding drug abuse, especially intra-venous mainliners, and we have a rough idea of the immensity of the problem that unfortunately cannot be swept under the permaidani. Therefore to present such simplistic figures and then draw conclusions that everything is ok is very dangerous and only serves to breed complacency.
It cannot be denied that the level of promiscuity in society is much higher now than say 50 years ago. It is not that the youth of yesteryear were saints; the 'opportunities' available today were simply not there then. In the fast moving era which is the present, certain conditions serve to encourage the practice of a less than healthy lifestyle. Foremost among these must definitely be lack of parental supervision. Therein lies the crux of the whole problem. The other factors are merely ancillaries, which if impartially viewed, still spring from the main cause - irresponsible parents.
Large families with low incomes is one of the major reasons for much of what ails our youngsters. The older generation for some reason or other did not heed the advice for contraception and are guilty of producing large numbers of children with little time or resources to devote to all of them. We cannot pass the buck to the teacher and expect them to perform the duties of a mother or a father. It is patently unfair to the teacher and more so to the children. Thus over time we raised a generation of unsupervised kids who who grew up and learnt the lessons of life by 'trial and error'.
Even now it is not too late. We can still salvage something from this mess, only if we cut down on the 'production-line' at home and concentrate on quality and not quantity. Children should play heartily, study diligently and not sell 'karipap' or goreng pisang to supplement the family income, all because their parents did not want to control their libido.
posted by The Malaysian. at 7/11/2006 11:59:00 AM
1 Comments:
You have hit the nail on the dot. But who is listening? Its all about politics and numbers game. In the end people will suffer. Very sad.
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