Preschool teachers slam nonchalant parents

 Some nursery school teachers have slammed parents for leaving children who are too young to care for themselves at home alone, accusing them of ignorant.

The teachers hope that the Tshwane Emergency Safety Department’s fire safety campaign, which was held in Hammanskraal, will assist the children stay safe from fire.

Principal of Thusanang Daycare Centre, Lerato Kekana, accompanied children from her nursery school to the event, expressing concern over the number of the country’s young people who have died or been injured as a result of fire incidents.

She criticised parents for not caring enough for their children, urging them to be present in order to avoid such tragedies.

“The parents are ignorant. They leave their kids in the house with no one to look after them then the kids end up burning the house. Like now when the schools are closed, some kids are home alone while the parents go out. Because it’s winter, parents should stay home with their kids, especially when they know that there isn’t anyone to help with the kids, because now they need to be alert that it’s a dangerous season for kids to be left alone in the houses, especially when heating devices are on,” says Kekana.

The hundreds of children who were attending the event were informed of the steps to take if they find themselves dealing with fire situations, while they are also entertained with occasional music throughout the event.

Some children were called on stage to recite the fire department’s toll free line, with some ecstatically shouting “107,” which is the fire department’s toll free number.

Some parents who attended the fire safety campaign heaped praise on it, saying it is critical for their children to stay safe at all times.

Scores of parents also went to the event with their children, hoping that they would learn how to keep themselves safe from fire.

The parents say they have also been concerned over the fire occurrences that have been reported, stating that sometimes it isn’t enough when they tell their kids about the dangers of fire, and that it is vital for the them to be made aware through such events.

“From my side it’s a good idea because they prepare our children while they are still young on how to deal with fire when they find themselves trapped,” says one of the parents, Lerato Seakamela, who had come with her two girls to the event.

She has urged children and parents to stay vigilant.

“Stay away from dangerous things like matches, and gas. Now it’s winter and our area gets load-shedding a lot and so we have now resorted to using gas in our houses, so my advice is that kids should not play near or open gas cylinders. Even us as parents, we should ensure that we place the gas cylinders where the kids would never be able to reach,” says Seakamela.

The children did not only learn about fire safety, but some of them were also motivated to become fire brigades. They were fascinated by the department’s fire safety agents – who did their drills before them.

“I want to be a fire brigade when I grow up,” shouted one of the children with excitement.

Some young people in Hammanskraal, who were at the gathering, are urging the City of Tshwane to also host events targeted at creating job prospects for them.

While some them appreciate the educational aspect of the campaign, they are concerned that many of them are still at home, unable to find work to support themselves.

They says they are anxious because many of them have tertiary qualifications but struggle to make ends meet.

“Such events help, but when we think how high unemployment is especially among black youth, we worry. People are struggling to find jobs. They should do programmes that benefit youth with employment,” says one young person.

“We are getting bored. We are getting into drugs and other stuff which aren’t good at all,” says another youth.

The spokesperson for the department that hosted the fire safety programme, Lindsey Mnguni, says parents need to ensure the safety of their children.

“Let the children not play with matches, they should not have access to paraffin stoves, burning imbawula, or braziers. We understand that people want to warm themselves up but all heating appliances should be managed by adults only because if there is a fire, especially in informal settlements, it spreads out due to windy weather and congested shacks. So let’s be more safe and less careless. That is our main drive to this community,” says Mnguni.

Mnguni adds that besides periodic fire safety campaigns, his department also empowers the youth through academic programmes.

He says they do these in collaboration with private universities (like Tshwane University of Technology), where young people are given learnerships and get educated to become fire safety agents. Written by Odirile Rabalao