Matric dances should be formalised and closely monitored by schools and the education department if we want to avoid the fatalities that often occur when pupils decide to organise their own after-parties.

These parties, usually after the formal matric dance, often comprise recklessness, ignorance and outright arrogance by pupils. They indulge in excessive alcohol consumption and drug abuse, all in the name of celebrating their last school year, yet they haven’t even started writing their final examinations.

Imagine concocting their minds with alcohol and drugs, yet those brains need to be stuffed with knowledge to tackle examinations. However, at times they end up dead instead after grisly accidents on the roads.

Also read: Four matric dance revellers killed in a car smash

As we speak, the community of Nkomazi is mourning the death of four pupils who died after an unlicensed driver lost control of the vehicle, in the wee hours of last Thursday morning. The parent who gave consent to his unlicensed child to ferry his friends, is highly irresponsible and I condemn this act in the strongest possible terms. In instances like this, no third party insurance will pay compensation for an accident where the vehicle was driven by an unauthorised person.

Parents need to exercise a lot of responsibility because schools cannot be blamed for such incidents. These are funded from monies by parents. At times some parents don’t know anything about the after-parties, but others are so scared of their children that they yield to their demands.
It’s about time parents, schools, the department and the community at large, work together to mould our children into worthy future citizens and not corpses, as is currently the case. If we want a progressive society, we need to work together for a better future.