Family values

Schools have always been faced with the necessity of delivering education that produces respectful, responsible citizens.

It is expected that children will be taught acceptable standards of conduct and the attitudes and attributes that foster them whilst in school.

In recent times, our society is faced with deep and interesting challenges as a result of technological advancement, globalisation and cultural borrowing, migrations, youth unemployment, climate change etc.

These occurrences have an impact on how children grow and develop with respect to social, cultural and religious influences.

This emphasises the need to develop caring, patriotic and resilient individuals who can, later on, contribute meaningfully to national development. Ethics education and critical thinking have a significant role in forming a mature, ethical human being with strong character. This will not happen if children are left on auto-pilot.

Character

Character is a set of qualities or values, that shape our thoughts, actions, reactions and feelings. People with strong character show compassion. They are honest and fair, and display self-discipline in setting and meeting goals.

They are able to make good judgements, show respect to others whilst still showing courage in standing up for beliefs.

People with strong character have a strong sense of responsibility.

By far, they are good patriotic citizens who love and protect the environment, and are generally concerned about the safety and well-being of their community.

In all these, they maintain self-respect.

The most important investment we can make in our children is not necessarily to send them to school and buy them stuff, but to help them build strong character – that is to acquire values and skills that they can rely on throughout their lives. (This desire may inform the schools we send them to anyway).

In doing so, they will have the best chance to lead good lives as individuals and as patriots of Ghana.

Charity still begins at home. It must be the foremost desire of parents to help their children learn to feel, think and act with respect for themselves and for other people.

Families must desire to raise children who pursue their own well-being, while also being considerate of the needs and feelings of others. The development of such strong character is the reason why we must again think through our values as families and as a nation.

Policy

What provisions have deliberately been made in our Early Childhood Care and Education policy among others to instil ethics and values in our children? The truth remains that if children do not learn proper values and behaviour when they are very young, they are likely to grow up with many challenges.

These challenges can increase with serious consequences as they grow older. This includes dropping out of school, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, violent crime and armed robbery, etc.

Development

The economic benefits of children’s moral and character development are huge. Investing in parenting programmes for families and early childhood development in schools will significantly impact long-term economic growth.

Such programmes can yield returns of up to $16 for every $1 invested, by shifting educational outcomes and future productivity.

Such investment efforts drastically reduce expenses related to education, health, and crime, ultimately increasing tax revenues and economic stability.

Family and pre-school initiatives that are targeted, for instance, can boost gross domestic product (GDP) by improving productive labour force. These pain-staking seeds when sown can later become a win-win for all, where a generation of skilled workforce can be produced towards sustained economic growth.

It is a known fact that children take values seriously only when they see that the adults they respect agree, at least in general, with those values. As we transition into a new political era, let the actors take note of these.

The writer is a Child Development Expert/ Fellow at Zero-to-three Academy, USA.
E-mail: nanaesi_19@yahoo.co.uk