In its quest to raise awareness on the importance of creating an enabling society that protects children and encourages every child to prosper, Greensprings School, Lagos, is set to release a short drama series titled “It Still Takes a Village.” This all-student cast series, scheduled to premiere on June 30 on the school’s YouTube channel, highlights the values of the age-old communal parenting method, where parents cared for each other’s children regardless of whether the child was theirs or not.
Announcing the premiere of the series, the institution’s chief strategy officer, Uche Ogbu, observed that the culture of collectively raising a child through shared responsibility by various members of society was being eroded by modern technologies and lifestyles. According to him, parents must continue to play their roles in ensuring that every child within their society is protected and supported towards achieving their highest potential because it is their responsibility.
“As a family-oriented and child-centred institution, we are always trying to explore opportunities to strengthen the family unit, because that is the primary foundation that can determine the success of any child. This time, we chose to explore the African proverb, which states that ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’ and we observed that the societal application of this concept is on a fast decline due to a plethora of factors, ranging from change in lifestyles, adoption of technology, excessive working hours, proliferation of mobile phones, social media binge, to child abuse.
“Therefore, we decided to do something about it by putting together a short drama series titled ‘It Still Takes a Village.’ Our goal is to emphasize the need for an environment where the voices of our children are heard and taken seriously, with the help of multiple stakeholders comprising concerned parents, extended families, neighbours, teachers, professionals, and other members of the community,” he said.
The first episode of the series will be released on June 30, 2022, and a new episode is expected to be added every two weeks. Greensprings School remains a leading thinking school, with three mainstream campuses and a special needs school (Anthos House) in Lagos.
