Parents have been charged to serve as the moral compass responsible for guiding their children to the right path and instilling good discipline in them.
The Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Abayomi Arigbabu gave this charge at the 2022 International Conference organised by the National Association for the Study of Religious and Education (NASRED), with the theme ‘Perception Engineering in Religious Education in Nigeria’, held at the Crescent University, Abeokuta.
Arigbabu explained that teaching a child in the ways of God is important but living a life worthy of emulation as parents would be a more effective way of instilling good morals in the young ones, positing that decadence in morals and behaviors can be traced from home and to tackle this menace, parents and the society must be alive to their responsibilities.
“What we do as parents matters more to the children than what we tell them, many parents imbibe in unholy things and no matter how we try to hide it, our children sees this and exhibit such behavior”, he submitted.
The commissioner urged participants at the programme to continue to preach love and religious tolerance and also exhibit good morals at all times irrespective of their religious beliefs, this he opined would make for a better society, he explained that moral decadence raging the world can be curb with love and right living among all men.
In his remarks, the President of the association, Prof. Dairo Afolorunso explained that the programme was put in place to allow scholars from all tertiary institutions across the country to ruminate and address religious crisis raging the country and to also chart ways of learning to co-habit and live in love with one another.
In his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of Crescent University, Prof. Ibrahim Gbajabiamila called on participants to ensure good synergy exist in living and working together amongst others who does not share one’s religious belief.
In his presentation, the keynote speaker, Prof. Samuel Ekundayo Oladipo submitted that there are different dimensions to religions, the characteristics and its developmental process differs in individuals, therefore individuals must learn how to be tolerant with other religions that exist in the country in order to promote love and peace.