The voice of the parents

This is a country blessed with a substantial number of non-governmental organisations or, as many of them prefer to be called, voluntary organisations.

Last year Parliament approved new legislation that has given NGOs legal status and that provides regulations and guidelines for the sector.

The legislation is based on the concept that the voluntary sector in Malta has given an invaluable contribution to our society in the cultural, social, environmental and other fields, that it has operated extremely well in a self-regulatory manner and that, in spite of the lack of legislation, rogue organisations were few and far between.

For a number of years, it was the sector itself that longed for legislation, a legislation that has created the Office of the Commissioner for NGOs, that provides for enrolment and registration, that regulates in the name of transparency and collective credibility but allows the organisations to act in an independent and autonomous manner, which is the way it should be.

This country would be so much poorer without our voluntary organisations and the thousands of people who give of their free time and of their energy to work for a cause they believe in. I once tried to count the number of these organisations but found it a daunting and impossible task. In the late 1990s a foreign visitor to these islands marvelled at the richness of our voluntary organisations but pointed out that we could not afford to have too many of them working in the same field without pooling their resources.

Apart from the fact that this would be a waste of resources, human, financial or whatever, this could lead to territorialism and turf wars to the detriment of the beneficiaries.

In the last decade there has been a coming together of organisations that has brought about positive results.

Civil society has become a force to be reckoned with and has a voice that demands and deserves to be heard.

Were it not for the commitment and tenacity of these organisations we would be minus some very important legislation that is now in place.

The first law of the millennium, the Equal Opportunities Act (Persons with Disability) would not be eight years old had it not been for the strong lobby groups that pushed and prodded to this end.

There is one voice that is strangely missing and its absence is a cause for concern.

The parents' voice. True, we have groups that focus on particular needs, as there are in the disability sector. I well remember the contribution by the group against drinking, a contribution that was very much responsible for initiating the move towards amendments in the law regarding minors and the consumption of alcohol.

However, a parents' organisation that constantly and consistently questions what is happening on behalf of minor children is absent.

Recently, I met representatives of the Association of School Councils and of the Association of Parents of Children in Church Schools, two organisations that, undoubtedly, have our children's educational well-being very much at heart.

My feeling is that they need to work more together in a concerted effort, in spite of the fact that one is representative of state schools while the other has Church schools as its place of origin.

In the course of these two meetings I broached the subject of a parents' lobby, a strong, national voice by parents on behalf of their children. Why expect only the authorities, whichever authorities we are looking at, to work on behalf of our children?

I hate to say this but the feeling I get very often is that parents have abdicated their duties in many circumstances, in the understanding that it should be the government, the Church, the school, the police, the agencies or others who should be the first guardians of children.

We have a Commissioner for Children who is setting up a Platform for Children, inviting organisations, NGOs and other entities that are working with and for children to join.

She intends to call a national forum "to deal with the issue of children at risk from the abusive consumption of energy drinks and other substances", responding to the proposal pushed forward by Anthony Girard, a social worker who is very staunch on the belief that energy drinks should be regulated in the same way that alcohol is. I sincerely hope that we will see the emergence of a national parents' lobby.

Even in the very mild controversy that arose in the papers about the energy drink with the objectionable name, parents were very much in the background. Not so in other countries where parental opinion was very strong.

Parents should shout out loud and clear on everything that is for or against the best interests of their children. They should shout the loudest of all.

Ms Cristina is Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.