Acting Administrator, Federal College of Education (Technical) Staff School, Lagos, Mrs. Esther Oyewumi, has called on parents to expose their children to vocational training during the current long holiday.

Oyewumi said since the holiday period usually put children at risks of imbibing bad habits due to reduced supervision from teachers and parents, allowing them to undergo vocational training would get them productively engaged.

She spoke during the school’s 2012/2013 valedictory service held in Lagos on Friday.

Oyewumi said, “The economic situation in the country has made it such that both parents are out there trying to make ends meet and provide for the needs of the family while the children are often times left unattended to.

“But during this holiday, children tend to have greater freedom as they are away from school. An idle hand, they say, is the devil’s workshop and that is why parents should devise means of getting their children and wards preoccupied with one activity or the other during this eight-week holiday.

“They should demphasise watching of movies and discourage their children from keeping bad company. Parents should make provisions for their children to acquire skills in arts and crafts, weaving, playing of musical instruments, bead making, and computer applications among others.’’

She appealed to parents to keep a close tab on the activities their children are engaged in during this period and guide them through moral instructions with a view to impressing excellence on their minds.

Chairman, Parents’ Teacher Association of the School, Mr. Semiu Jimoh, said exposing children to vocational will not only take them off social vices but go a long way in inculcating in them life survival skills capable of making them excel in future.

Jimoh said, “When the pupils are gainfully engaged in one vocation or the other during the holidays, they are provided with the opportunity of acquiring skills that are requisite for economic and social prosperity in the fast paced society we live in.”