4,188 teens ran away from homes
A STAGGERING 4,188 teenagers were reported to have left home to seek their freedom from 2013 to 2016.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Masir Kujat said among other reasons given by teenagers to justify their action were peer pressure (1,330), following their partners (1,025), family misunderstanding (715) and no interest in studies (150).
Masir said up to last year, the number of teenagers who ran away from home stood at 1,803, with 824 still missing.
“It comes down to the attention given by parents.
“Parents need to give more attention to their children and their movements.
“They need to be aware if their children are associating themselves with strangers,” he said in answer to a question by Dr Izani Husin (Pas-Pengkalan Chepa) at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
He also said if this issue was not taken seriously, it might lead to an increase in social ills and also human trafficking cases.
“The ministry has conducted various activities with the cooperation of police, non-governmental organisations, schools and parents to raise awareness of the issue.
“Through the child awareness
campaign, we also held talks to enlighten parents on the reasons their children resort to running away from home,” he said.
He added that parents need to
play an active role in supervising their children’s life or the latter could be exposed to dangers and risks when they ran away from home.