Let’s make homes bastions of education

Parents, or stand-ins, must chip in to help build model citizens we can all be

- Buti Manamela

The test of a society's character, I’ve often said, is not just in its ability to build universities and colleges, but in how it raises its children. A few weeks ago, at a skills development conference, a parent asked what more could be done to help our children gain practical skills. My answer was simple: government must do more = but so must we, as parents, caregivers and communities.

I often reflect on how I, like many children of the working class, learnt skills not in a classroom but through the demands of daily life. As the eldest boy at home, I had to cook, clean, do the laundry and run errands. I learnt how to budget by buying groceries. We sold eggs, sweets, and popcorn at school - not because we were taught entrepreneurship but because we had to survive.

Yet, within that struggle, we unknowingly cultivated resilience, resourcefulness and responsibility.

In many ways. these early lessons in responsibility laid the groundwork for much of my adult life. What we sometimes dismiss as mere household chores are, in fact, foundational tools of human development. They teach time management, problem-solving, accountability and self-worth. They are not minor tasks ~they are cornerstones of independence and confidence.