Don ’ t destroy the future

IT IS high time adults were taken to task for gambling with the future of children by forbidding them to go to school to make a point, as it has so often been the case during service delivery protests.

The North West department of education needs to be commended for making the parents of Kopela village, near Delareyville, account for their criminal action.

The department is seeking a court order to force villagers to allow pupils to return to school and write exams after schooling in the area was stopped in August.

In the past year it has become increasingly worrying that parents gamble with their children ’ s education to try and force the state to accede to their demands for running water, electricity and proper roads.

Last year saw one of the worst strikes by parents when a group calling itself The Road Forum in Kuruman, Northern Cape, closed 54 schools to force the government to build them a tarred road.

An estimated 20 000 pupils lost out on schooling for four months as parents used their children as bargaining chips to try to force the hand of the provincial government.

Since then copycats throughout the country have employed the same ill-considered tactic, closing schools for months on end to further their aims .

Such protests are often augmented by other destructive behaviour such as burning state facilities and infrastructure, which will ultimately have to be replaced by taxpayers ’ money that could have been used to develop needy areas.

Grown-ups have the responsibility to ensure that children are not deprived of education and thus a better future. It is after all their inalienable right.