As stakeholders in Education continue to consolidate their efforts to cushion the boy child against suffering parents and guardians must be put on board.
The boys have been neglected for a long time at the expense of giving priority to the girl child, and it is time that the two genders received equal attention.
A judicial officer at Kahawa Law Courts in Kiambu County Chief magistrate Ms Diana Mochache says boys should be allowed the basic items in life so that they too can fit in society and feel comfortable to associate with their peers.
The magistrate says whenever boys say they need something like a pair of shoes, a shirt, a bag, or trousers, their parents should not ignore them.
She says this should be taken seriously because a boy in form 3 or 4 cannot be that mad to say they need such items when they are not serious. These boys too are our children and deserve attention just as the girl child.
“A girl of that age has many boyfriends who can be able to buy such items that may be appear petty but boys have nowhere to go and this becomes the sole responsibility of the parents and guardians to address it without casting a blind eye on their demands” said Ms. Mochache.
The Judicial officer made the remark when she visited Kiambu Law Courts yesterday where she previously worked before being transfered to Shanzu Law Courts in Mombasa and is now at Kahawa, the anti terrorism Court which is newly constructed.
In the ongoing efforts by the multi-agency team of school re-opening, she said stakeholders can pull their resources and even buy the school items for the very needy boys so that they feel comfortable when they interacted with their classmates and even those of the opposite sex while in school and even at social places like the church and school functions.
Ms. Mochache reminded the parents that they required to be open minded when handling teenagers so that they stopped brushing off their demands which they at times looked at as luxuries. You can even spend only 200 shillings to buy the shoes so that you protect him from the unnecessary laughter of the girls they were eyeing at school, she said.
A form 4 boy had reportedly revealed to the police at Ikinu station in Githunguri sub-county that he was unhappy with his father after he refused to buy him a pair of shoes to enable him complete his schooling.
By Lydia Shiloya
