Addressing Juvenile Delinquency: Why Parents Should Adopt Homeschooling To Complement Normal School Structure 

There is no denying the fact that all societies are going down in terms of moral values. This decline in morality has caused an increase in crime rate that cut across violence, stabbings, murders, robbery so much so that some juvenile, say at the age of 16, now engage in child abuses almost on daily occurrences; if reports that are frequently published in the media are anything to go by.

For the sake of clarity, a juvenile crime can include a DUI arrest, which interpretatively means driving under the influence (DUI), and mostly implemented in European and American countries, minor in possession firearms and drugs. Other crimes that minors or rather juvenile usually get involved in this part of the world cut across robbery, rape, murder, and any other crime that can be committed by an adult. Under a well-organized legal system, individuals under the age of 18 who commit these crimes can be duly punished under juvenile law.

Without any iota of exaggeration, crimes committed by juveniles are fast becoming widespread and are growing faster. As a result of the foregoing, the number of inmates in juvenile homes is increasing. When we go through the statistics, it is clear that the crime rate is inversely proportional to education. And in this context, the famous saying by Victor Hugo that “He who opens a school door, closes a prison”, no doubt becomes very relevant, particularly in this context.

The foregoing saying, in fact highlights the significance of education in one’s life. What one becomes in life, whether he turns out to be a criminal or a productive member of the society, depends purely on the kind of education he or she receives. Thus, right education has a great impact on the growth and development of a nation because it not only reduces crime ratio but it also helps its citizens to escape from the darkness of ignorance. When we educate someone, we reform him into a person worth looking up to. We help him become a productive member of the society. Thus, those who open schools help the masses by working for the noble cause of education.

In fact, education is one of the primary factors in life that helps an individual face most of the challenges in life. Thus it is a valuable asset for humans. It helps prepare people to play their roles as enlightened members of the society. The UN in 1948 drew up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which says all the citizens of the world have a right to education.

Today, it is very obvious that most teachers are not teaching values separately in classrooms. Without doubt, they have integrated values into day-to-day teaching. They associate every topic they teach with a value. Thus today’s education makes our children witness all the virtues of life. In classrooms they teach our kids that honesty, uprightness, compassion, concern, benevolence and empathy are the most important values of human life and this in turn helps them grow into better human beings. Thus, the school years are the grounding years of one’s education. The school years lay the very foundation of a child’s development. Schools transform children into responsible citizens and good human beings.

Studies have proven that a proper education is one of the most effective crime prevention measures. Quality education, in fact, reduces crime. Therefore, instead of implementing extreme laws to prevent people from committing crimes, we must encourage them to become productive members of the society by providing them with proper education and training. It is not an exaggeration to say that evils that cut across corruption, vulgarity, child abuses, women abuses, murder, scams and scandals, drug addiction, blackmailing, black marketing, adulteration, smuggling, hypocrisy, lies and manipulations can be reduced to a certain extent by educating our kids properly. Education is not merely the transfer of knowledge and information. It really helps children to learn ideas and integrate values with the ideas they learn and apply these ideas in real life. Today, education is the only weapon that is capable of waging a war against a world polluted by an increasing number of materialistic minded people and criminals.

When we educate a person, he is aware of the social norms and choices and the possibility of a better life. Education instills a new thinking in the mindset of children. It enables children to analyze and correlate the impact of their current decisions and actions and the future. Education exposes children to different philosophies and schools of thought and thus promotes healthy positive thinking and reduces crime.

Given the foregoing backdrop of teachers not exclusively teaching children moral values as a subject as it ought to, it is expedient for parents to resort to teaching their children moral values through homeschooling. For the sake of clarity, moral values are defined as guidelines that assist a person in deciding between right and wrong. In order to create honest, credible, and fair judgments and relationships in daily life, the awareness of one's morals, along with self-awareness, is crucial.

It is also expedient at this juncture to say that homeschooling is a process in which parents educate their children at home instead of sending them to a traditional public or private school. Families choose to homeschool for a variety of reasons, including dissatisfaction with the educational options available, different religious or educational philosophies, and the belief that children are not progressing within the traditional school structure. However, as been advocated in this context, parents are urged to teach their children moral values in other to complement what they are taught in schools. Against the backdrop of how decayed the society has become, and how tattered the moral fabric is, it may not be erroneous to conclude that even most parents lack moral values, not to talk of imparting moral values to their children.

You may be wondering what inspired me to express this view. The inspiration cannot be farfetched as there is presently a news report on the media landscape that has it that “A 16-year old boy has been arrested by the Police in Lagos State for allegedly checking the private part of a 6-year old girl by inserting his finger into it claiming that he wanted see how it looked like.

“According to Police sources, the suspect trailed the little girl who was sent on an errand by her mother and cornered her. He then pushed her to a wall and forcefully inserted his finger inside her private part in order to satisfy his sexual desire.

“However, he landed in trouble after the girl got home and informed her parents that the suspect tempered with her private part while she went on the errand.

“This angered her parents who went to the Police in the area and reported the alleged assault on the girl. The suspect was arrested and later transferred to SCID, Yaba, for interrogation over the conduct.

“During interrogation, he confessed that he only wanted to see how her private part looked like but did not penetrate her. The Police found him culpable and subsequently charged him before the Ebute Metta Magistrates Court for the alleged offence.

“The Court did not take his plea when he was arraigned following a motion moved by the prosecutor, Supol Paul, asking the Court to refer the matter to the DPP for advice since both the defendant and victim are minors.

“The Presiding Magistrate, Mrs. O.M. Ajayi, ordered his remand in the Correctional Centre and directed the prosecutor to duplicate the file and send it to DPP for advice.

“The matter was adjourned pending the outcome of the DPP’s report, which will determine if the matter “will be transferred to the High Court or not over jurisdiction”.

Sandra Ijeoma Okoye (Author)