Preparation of Children on Environmental Conservation in the Rural Area – Turbo Kenya

Most Kenyans are so much concerned in the way forests are destroyed by the get rich quickly Kenyans. The wanton destruction of forests and indigenous trees has left many people wondering as to what is happening with the people especially their leaders. This wanton destruction has had big effects on the country’s environment such as drastic climatic change, which has affected farming greatly. Farming is the main occupation in Kenya that earns the country foreign currency. While this cruel destruction is going no drastic measures have been taken to instil a sense of value and education to the growing and developing children as part of discipline to preserve forests. Therefore, this paper discusses ways and means of preparing children as early as possible. This preparation is meant to help children grow with a high sense of respect towards the environment especially the preservation of forests for the benefit of mankind.


INTRODUCTION
The whole world is very much concerned with the conservation and preservation of the environment. After the Stockholm conference (1972), various conferences at local, regional and international levels have been held to sensitize and awaken people about the

Original Research Article
seriousness of conservation and preservation of the environment and its subsequent use. A lot of money has been and is still being spent to educate people on various ways on how to preserve and conserve the environment for our future generations. Europe, U.S.A, Japan and other leading developing countries have taken the lead in environmental conservation and preservation.
Third world countries, especially in Africa, are still dragging their feet on involving and educating a growing and developing the child in rural areas on the need to conserve and preserve the environment. Advanced nations are moving ahead by organizing international conferences that include children participation on the need to conserve and preserve the environment. Children are the generation of tomorrow, and as the future generation, they must be involved at all levels of policymaking that will affect them in their daily life as adults. They, therefore, have to grow and develop with the reality at hand that will affect them rather than waiting until they are adults. As a society, we need to put our children in the forefront when discussing issues concerning the environment. This can be discussed at various levels such as family, schools, social organizations, such as churches, maendeleo ya wanawake and youth groups.

METHODOLOGY
The researcher employed the use of questionnaires to collect data. The questionnaires were both written and oral. Surveys and observation would also be incorporated into the research design. Data was basically collected from a sample population of 200 How many? schools How many and further 50 children How many? from each of the schools were sampled. The data was then analysed using one specific statistical application, SPSS.

Family
Twenty-eight years after the famous and widely published Stockholm (1972) conference, sustainable, conservation and preservation of natural resources has taken priority on the agenda of many countries in the world. Advanced nations have approached environmental issues in different ways, such as the organization of local, regional and international seminars. These seminars have been attended by experts and policymakers from various fields of environmental domains. New ideas and proposals have come up in these seminars about the means and ways in which the sustainability of the environment can be stepped up. Advanced nations have moved further and involved children to participate in some of these seminars that make policies meant to safeguard the environment from the wanton destruction by the money-hungry people.
Children must grow and develop with the knowledge of the conservation and preservation of the environment. Omar (1972) asserts that children in the former U.S.S.R were taught about work at the age of two years. This is a real tender age of teaching and instilling some values of work. Such values like work would also include growing of trees and how to preserve them. Psychologists also point out that this is an age when curiosity and discovery of the child as well as the need to know is developing and is very high. When such need to know is high, this is the chance parents would use to instil such values like respect for the environment. Most people from the rural setup of Turbo sub-county in Kenya have not understood what the environment is. Maybe this could be the reason why most parents in rural areas may find difficulties in teaching what an environment is. Otiende [1] simplified the meaning of the environment to mean our homes, localities and such as natural and social ambience which makes the total universal environment surroundings. If parents understood what the environment means then it would be easy to teach children as they grow and develop on how to preserve it.
Psychologists, sociologist and anthropologist all acknowledge the importance of a family as a strong and viable institution for moulding the character of a growing and developing the child. For any good policy and teaching to succeed, it has to start at the family level. Seminars on environmental conservation globally have focused their attention on conservation and preservation of the environment by channelling it through the schools, government policies and non-governmental organizations yet they have forgotten a very important area; family institutions. A big area in a child's growth and development is much wasted, which is between 1 and 6 years. While the child is still at home, the parents should introduce some basic concepts of conservation and preservation of the environment. This is the period, as noted by Anderson [2] when a child has high propensity to discover what is around him. Parents can use this time to instil a sense of value such as tree planting and environmental conservation. Seemingly, this curiosity time is not well utilized by most modern parents because of various reasons. Some reasons include parents spending much time on their professional careers and having very little time with the child to instil valuable values such as environmental preservation. When parents return from work late in the evening, they are so fatigued that they may not have time to introduce their children to activities like soil conservation, tree planting, watering of trees and so forth.
In rural areas, where parents may not be occupied in formal employment, they have left the basic training of their children on environmental conservation to teachers in primary schools. Out of the 100 parents we interviewed, only 3% in the division were found to take a keen interest in helping their children understand the importance of to plant trees. 2% of the 100 parents interviewed in the study helped their children in both the preservation of the environment and tree planting. Majority of the interviewed families did not seem to understand that children can be prepared when they are young to develop a culture of conserving the environment. Even the 3% and 2% of parents that seemed to help their children to engage in the planting of trees did it under strict directives. They did not instruct or rather they did not prepare their children with love and care. Among those parents, 6% relied on teachers to prepare their children for environmental conservation. But the teachers whom parents trust so much to give such training may not be specialized in environmental issues and may also not be interested in tree planting and environmental conservation. This, therefore, leaves a child to grow and develop without any basic knowledge of environmental conservation. Parents may not have the specialized knowledge to help a child grasp the basic concepts on environmental conservation, but Painter [3] notes that a parent though not specialized in any way to identify a child's talent he/she has an intuitive knowledge of guiding him/her. The parent's closeness to the child is very necessary.
Kenyatta [4], Odeotola and Ademola et al. [5] and Duraijaiye [6] all agree that African Cultural Society has a strong respect for the family as an institution that can be able to help a child in certain responsibilities that he/she is supposed to learn before the community takes over. 4% said that they occasionally stay with their children in the evening and discuss issues freely. Among the interviewed families, it was revealed clearly that most parents have very little time for their children. It was found out that only 1% of the families stay with their children for about two hours in the evening discussing issues freely. 4% said that they occasionally stay with their children in the evening and discuss issues freely. 5% agreed that they hardly have time for their children due to lots of commitments at their businesses and at work. They come at home when they are totally exhausted.
The parental responsibilities targeted mostly children between (0-10) years. This was done by exemplary behaviour displayed by parents in such areas like tidying the environment, preserving of certain trees in the homestead and planting of certain indigenous trees in the homestead. Kenyatta (1984) further notes that the father can take the boy to the garden for practical training. While in the garden, the father makes a digging stick (moro) for the boy to play with while he (the father) does the actual work of weeding or turning the soil. In addition, while interviewing people in this division, 8% of the fathers said they do not go with their children for weeding to teach them how to weed. They argued that this was the mothers' work. 2% said they only occasionally take their children especially boys and not girls. The remaining 1%, take their boys to the farm to work in the way adults are supposed to work. Kenyatta (1984) argues that through watching the father in these agricultural activities, the boy gradually learns how to handle his stick in digging, thus becoming a practical agriculturalist. From the interviews we conducted it can be clearly seen that nearly 7% of families do not have this practical training for their children in our rural setups. In most rural parts of Kenya, the majority of adults are those between (25-50) years. This is nearly 90%. These are adults who would not like to be associated with the soil. At the same time, traditional customs that bound people together are dying very fast as observed by Duraijaiye [6]. Therefore, today, most of the practical cares are no longer in existence. Seemingly, children tend to learn on their own through practical activities.
Modern parents, be it in rural or urban areas, argue that it is the responsibility of the teacher to teach their children about issues like environmental activities. Other aspects are that a modern parent in the rural area would prefer to employ workmen rather than doing the activity themselves as a sign of teaching a child. Among the families we interviewed, we found out that only 4% of the parents are practical. The rest of the parents would like to employ workmen.
Workmen should teach children about certain aspects of domestic activities, but parents should instil a sense of belief and trust in their children in such a way that what they do will easily be accepted by their children.
Mwakisha [7] and Mutero and Kamunya [8] all note that ¾ of the parents have very little time for their children either after work or during weekends to help them learn some basic activities such as painting, drawing, gardening and playing soccer. Only 2% of parents showed that they at least get involved. 85% accepted that they do not have time for such activities. But even the 2% who accepted that at least they get involved in their children's activities, they do not do it full-heartedly. Children's interest in environmental activities can be developed if parents have quality time and get fully involved in their activities. Environmental activities can be part of children's growth and development if planted into their minds, yet this has not been done. Are we given to believe that the traditional society was more alert on these environmental issues than modern society? Parents have a key role to play in sensitizing children on issues concerning the environment so that they can develop a good culture of conserving the environment within which they live. Janchdra [9] argues that parents have at least to spend about (50-80%) of their free time with children after work and during the weekend. Yet this observation has not been well used by most parents. Children are always left to grow on their own without due regard to their environment. Lemon [10] cited by Howe [11] notes that the Jewish religion prescribes for parents to teach their children from an early age. The Talmud provides that Jewish parents must be the first teachers. Yet in the third world, especially Kenya, this responsibility has not been effectively handled. This is well demonstrated from the interviews that we carried out in Turbo where 8% of the parents sincerely and willingly accepted that they hardly have time for their children.
Olatunde et al. (1989) note that an African child in a traditional set up played a very important part in the economic development of the family as well as the community. He argues that there was no established training system but a child was taught through practical situations. When interviewing parents on whether they take time to train children for self-supporting activities in the village, it was found out that only 3% of the families took the training of their children seriously. The remaining 97% merely ordered children to do what they see in the environment. This automatically made children think that they were doing it for their parents and not for themselves.
The modern society has valued paid employment rather than practical work. If society taught children practical ways of life, we would not be scrambling for paid employment. Preservation and conservation of our environment inculcated into our children would be a factor that would motivate them to work practically like in agriculture and tree planting, fishing and farming. Olatunde (1987) and Kenyatta (1984) have argued in the same manner that at the tender age of (3-6) years, a boy follows his father to the farm starting with helping in weeding, fetching water, firewood, as well as carrying seeds for planting.
Africa is not a continent that would be going out to ask for food from other continents. This is a continent that is blessed with such good climatic conditions, good rainfall, fertile soil and plenty of water that if used properly would make it one of the richest continents on earth. Yet despite all these good environmental conditions, Africa is also one of the poorest continents. The per capita income is below the standard of living. Leaders hop from one aeroplane to another, from one capital to another for food to sustain the rapidly growing population. Yet the food given in the form of aid can be grown in Africa without going into serious scientific technology. This can be done if we trained our children to preserve and conserve the environment.
Our think tanks including policymakers never sit down and think of a child as a potential talent that can be used to help in conservation and preservation of the environment. We merely look at them as people who can only listen and not people who can act when well guided. Look at African refugees who join a host of countries with fertile soil where farming environmental take place. They wait for the United Nations Commission for Refugees (U.N.C.R) to supply them with ready-made food. Why not teach these people farming activities that would give them food other than waiting for the distribution of food which may not be enough for a large family? Why not let parents teach children the role of agriculture which would be an important aspect in the long-run? Dude and Geoffrey (April 2000) argue that the occupational, vocational and educational background of a refugee, to some extent, determines the success or failure in making a living in the new environment.
Parents should take upon initiatives that are able to make a living by instilling in children a sense of environmental conservation and preservation of agricultural purposes. By so doing such a situation would make children whether they are refugees or not develop a love for agricultural activities. This will make them ask for agricultural implements that would make them grow their own food rather than waiting for the Food Agricultural Organization (F.A.O) to supply them with food. Most African states have put refugees in most dry areas camps such as Kakuma and Daadab without considering agricultural aspects that can be used by parents to train their children on the role of farming to feed themselves. The argument that these people are temporarily housed in the host country and will at one time go away should not arise since it does not make sense. Whether these people will go away or not, they need to have basic skills that they can use for farming, especially the children.
One of the regional environmental seminars organized by United Nations Action Plan for Tree Planting on the environment (Data Report, 1993-1994) laments of the African region having a problem in the production of food adequate for the growing population. The poor production of food in Africa, especially in Kenya, could be due to the lack of policies that are formulated by our leaders. The policies for food production should start from the family level and children must just be taught and trained at a tender age so that they grow with the notion of agriculture. When we interviewed families in their division about those who stress farming as a very important factor compared to white-collar jobs, we found out that only 20% seriously trained their children to love farming. 30% argued that farming is only a stepping stone to better jobs like white collar or blue. 50% simply dismissed farming to be a job for those children who never performed well in school.
If children were really taught the importance of the conservation and preservation of the environment, they would grow with love for the land. This means that when they are adults they would not be running to urban areas where they would be paid as little money as Ksh. 500 per month. This is money that cannot sustain one for a whole month. Yet such money can be earned in a single minute by growing few stems of tomatoes on the land. Maurice Mbegeria (1992) notes that Kenya has 8.6 million hectares of land that have reliable rainfall, good soil and moderate to high fertility. This already shows that we have plenty of natural resources but we have not known how to use them by tapping the talents of children to exploit them.

Forestry
This is one of the most important areas that nations need to consider very much. Today, in the local newspapers, you will not miss a page with a comment either from the mailbox complaining about the grabbing of forest or public's outcry on the wanton destruction of forests. What looked one time as the darling places for the rainfall catchment areas have now almost become deserts. This is happening because our children are growing without a good knowledge of the importance of forests. When families were interviewed in Turbo Division about the tree growing in the area, various responses were received. Only 1% of families said that they try to teach their children about trees. 2% said they occasionally talk about trees, 7% argued that children learn this at school and as such, they saw no need of teaching children what should be the teacher's responsibility. From such observation, one would easily conclude that very little is done at the family level to educate children on the importance of conservation and preservation of trees. Kenyatta (1984) notes that, in the African traditional society, a child accompanies his father when moving through forests and jungles. In this way, the child learnt about numerous wild fruits, trees and flowers. The child later came to learn those flowers and fruits which were poisonous and those that were edible. This is one of the indicators that African traditions had high respect for these trees. A child being taken around by the father was taught the basics about what the society knew about the trees. All the families that we interviewed simply said they don't take their children around forests. They again said that children learn about trees is the schools.
The purpose of taking children around the forest was meant to indirectly instil some sense of conservation and preservation of trees for communal use. Kenyatta (1984) argues that trees in traditional society were kept for multipurpose use for the community. There are some trees in the traditional societies which were kept for medicinal purposes. Even up to now in some communities in Kenya, there are some trees which are kept for medicine as we have pointed out. The Kalenjin had and still have the following trees for malaria treatment (modendorwet) roots, (Senatwet) leaves. The following were used as a treatment for sore throats and worms, (Sokyot) and (Cheptorwoket). Among the Abanyala of Busia District, some forests were preserved as shrines (esikimbiro) for rainmaking. Children were introduced to these forests and no one was allowed to cut any tree from such shrines. Those who dared to do so met the wrath of the ancestors.
In this study, we found that today, 99% of the people that we interviewed discussed the preservation of trees as a shrine to be primitive and outdated. They argued that schools should play an important role in teaching children about the preservation and conservation of trees. The traditional preservation and conservation of such shrines were meant to let children grow with respect towards trees. Trees were well preserved and nobody in the village tampered with them. Today without all the due respect, people do not care about conservation and preservation of the environment which has made our children develop negative attitudes towards trees.
Children as future leaders and citizens must be made aware of the environment. For this to have an effect, it must start right from the family level. We cannot dismiss the idea that traditional beliefs did not have some effects on the preservation and conservation of the forests. These traditional beliefs acted in changing people's attitudes towards the conservation and preservation of forest for instance. The government can have very policies as well as the latest technology but without positive attitudes, this leads to nothing (Kenya Times, March 16, 2011).
Peoples' attitudes towards the conservation of the environment have to start at the family level. Children grow with such positive attitudes to adulthood in the preservation and conservation of the forest and their usefulness to society. Our parents in this country have no quality time for children as we have argued elsewhere in this paper that only 1% of those we interviewed accepted that they spend time with their children in the evening and weekends.
Young [12] notes that awareness of the need for soil conservation arose in the U.S.A, in the 1930s, when there had been many cases of soil erosion. He argues that this erosion must have arisen as a result of poor knowledge on the use of forests and a good preserver of soil erosion. Harley (1938) cited by Young Young? (1989) strongly notes that he devoted 60 pages to erosion, remarking that it is now one of the most serious problems in Africa. Soil conservation became one of the agricultural policies during colonial times. It continued through the 1950s. The colonial chiefs carried out those policies very strictly. The District Officers and District Commissioners, as well as agricultural extensive officers, also took an active part in passing on these policies. The school system too also emphasized the need for tree planting to prevent soil erosion. Soil and tree planting for the preservation of soil was taught under agricultural lessons, even to-date; we have those practical subjects in Kenya. But from the survey that we carried out in Turbo Division, it indicated that teachers and pupils seem to be very negative towards tree planting. In most schools, especially primary, one hardly finds trees planted by children.
Young [12] lists a number of factors that are important for agro-forestry. He argues that the greatest potential of agroforestry lies in its capacity to supply and maintain ground cover. A soil litter cover maintained throughout the period of erosive rains frequently reduces erosion to within acceptable levels. He further notes that the role of the tree canopy is to provide a supply of leafy material through direct litterfall or pruning sufficient to maintain the surface covers.
John Fox [13] notes that children can learn about the environment right from their childhood stage and develop positive attitudes towards environmental conservation. Our leaders have positive attitudes towards environmental conservation. Our leaders have always spoken of the role of children in society as future leaders, yet our children are not guided on how to conserve and preserve trees. This is a demonstration by a small percentage of the families that we interviewed that take an interest in helping children at an early age on how to be responsible. Agroforestry is a very important aspect of our daily life that needs very serious attention. There were a good number of issues that relaxed with the coming of independence. The policymakers and the society did not become serious as the colonial officers were on environmental conservation.
In the front page of the East African Standard (March 16, 2001), it was noted with serious concerns that Kenya lost a top award over forest controversy. The international organization argued vehemently that Kenya had de-gazetted vast protected forest area. This was to settle about 167, 000 squatters. The same issues were also echoed by the Daily Nation (March 16, 2001) arguing that the president himself in his New Year speech had emphasized "our water resources and forests are depleting at an alarming rate. If we are not careful, future generations will miss their livelihood because of the degradation of our resources". The point is the future leaders and generations. What is the fate of our future generations when they are not guided much early on how to preserve and conserve what will be useful to them. Piaget argues that a child at the age of six years can reason obstructively. Why don't we use this age to instil a sense of responsibility to these children? We tend to do everything we can to block them from knowing the truth about the role of trees in soil conservation. E. A. Standard (June 25, 2002) related that, the Minister for Environment Hon. Joseph Kamotho was due to present a session paper on the new forest policy and new Forest Bill in parliament. The Minister noted that the Government will support all efforts geared towards forest conservation and protection through policy and legislative reforms. The type of legislation will be able to curb the wanton destruction of trees. The Bill should stress the role children should play in learning about the preservation of trees and the entire environment.
With the wanton destruction of forests at such alarming rates, Kenya is likely to become a desert within a few years to come. This is shown in the way we look at the future. The Kamotho Bill must address the role of the child at the family level and the part he/she has to play. The argument by the government put forward for the degazetting of the protected forests was to settle 167, 000 Kenyans who are squatters. This does not make sense. Kenyan's population according to the 1999 census is 48 million. This includes children who are the future generations. These are the people who will have their future destroyed by lack of water, rain or fertile land because of setting them now rather than changing their attitude towards the planting of trees as well as preservation and conservation of the forest. E. A. Standard (March 6, 2001) noted that the Kenya Forest working group argues that the country is likely to lose Kshs. 165 billion if the Government goes ahead and allows the excision of forests. This is a lot of money that could be saved if the Government does not go ahead with its plans to settle squatters. What the Government should do is to sensitize children in their formatives stages to love and protect the environment in which they live. This means every child in rural Kenya where the majority live would benefit from this exercise of sensitizing them.

Policies
Nooraly Singh (Kenya Times Friday, March 2, 2001) noted that the solution to environmental conservation and preservation is to change people's attitudes and habits. He argued that even the best policies and technologies cannot help solve the problems of environmental conservation and preservation if people cannot change their attitude and habits towards environmental conservation. People's attitudes are never changed in one single day. This is a long process that takes a lot of time. This has to start at the family level, but as shown in our interviews nearly 99% of the families in the division have no time to sit down or join children's home activities such as tree planting and conservation.
Policies are meant to help as well as guide them in their daily endeavours towards their socioeconomic activities. Policies are meant to help people discover and think about how they are supposed to build their socio-economic bases. When government policies are not instrumental in guiding the society towards building the country then they have no reason to be in existence. A few of the current members of Parliament [13] challenged the house to amend the Forest Act which gives the Ministry for Environment and Natural Resources sweeping powers over forests. The policies in question should be geared towards sensitizing children on how to preserve and conserve the environment rather than de-gazetting the protected forests. It does not make sense, destroying forests using certain powers while at the same time pitying the future generations.
In 1984, at its twelfth session, the governing council considered not only progress in the implementation of the Plan of Action to combat desertification (PACD) and the world status of desertification, but the PACD itself. There are wonderful and good plans for mankind but such do not reach the layman who is the victim of such environmental problems like desertification. Many regional and international conferences have been held to change the attitude of the layman in rural areas. A lot of money has been voted for the conservation and preservation of the environment but this money does not reach the man on the ground to sensitize a growing and developing the child. When policies are made they should be written in a simple language that can be understood by the layman. This was meant to help him assist the child to change his/her attitude. The colonial government was always particular with the conservation and preservation of the environment. Such acts were contained in the chief's ordinances Acts. These acts empowered the chiefs to carry out the duties of seeing that the standard of cleanliness; tree planting and soil erosion were well preserved. The chiefs also maintained the order of not cutting trees without care. A tree that was cut was to be replaced. Such observations of laws were carried out in villages. Children imitated what was going on. There was a day set for public works on such areas like clearing dirt in rivers as well as stopping soil erosion. These were pragmatic policies that helped adults conserve their environment which made children learn by seeing.
Our educational system is not very much emphatic on environmental conservation and preservation.
Most of the educational commissions starting with the Ominde Commission [14], to Davy Koech Commission [15] do not lay much emphasis on the environment. If there is, then this is in various subjects such as Geography, Science and Agriculture. In these subjects, one would only find a topic which would be carried in two days. These educational reports should have emphasized the environment to be taught as a subject. There are only clubs which are poorly run by teachers who have no interests to narrate and stimulate pupils on the preservation of the environment. This is worse in primary schools where teachers are not specialized in any subject to handling children.
According to the report of the Executive Director (1984), the National Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (NAPCDS) should be prepared on the basis of the general policy guidelines outline and taking into account specific ecological and socio-economic conditions of every state. The policies of any country should reach a child. There is no logical reason when such policies concerning the lives of the people have not always targeted children. These are the future generation who should be put on the forefront of any new policy. These new policies if possible as we have argued elsewhere should be simplified in the language that is understood easily for everybody to participate in especially children. Yet good policies have either been written in technical English which the majority of people do not understand especially children.

FUTURE RESEARCH
Future research in this study should be tailored to the massive technological changes that are taking place globally today. They form a pivotal point in the environment of our children and therefore it is just mandatory that future studies and researches are directed to this. Failure of which will amount to a more serious problem.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDA-TIONS
In conclusion, we should as a priority, look at our growing and developing children as great assets. We can use their curiosity to discover, to impart knowledge about conservation. In this stage, a child will be able to grasp this knowledge concerning the conservation and preservation of the environment. The behaviourist psychologists have a strong belief that people learn best and actively when they manipulate the materials. Why don't we have to teach them about the environment right from the formative stage rather than waiting for them to go to school? Let them grow with a strong liking for the conservation of the environment as part of their lives, rather than when they are adults and are occupied with many socio-economic issues and they cannot pay attention to new ideas.
This can be achieved by considering the following recommendations: a. Strengthening family institutions in Turbo, Kenya, and educate parents on taking parenting as a full-time job for mothers to instil in children the type of values such as environmental conservation rather than leaving them to illiterate house helps who cannot instil the desired values. b. Our policies should also target children in Turbo, Kenya, as they grow up. c. The policies concerning the environment should be written in a simple language for the people of Turbo, Kenya, to understand and not in a technical language that parents may also not understand, to help children as they grow especially rural parents. d. Seminars about environmental conservation and preservation should start at the village level in Turbo, Kenya. In this case, children will be addressed in a language they understand well by specialists. It does not make sense to have international seminars for children when at village level nothing has been done. Preparations for seminars at the village level stimulate children's participation in major seminars. e. Teachers in primary schools in Turbo, Kenya, should specialize in environmental education. f. Time has come when our graduates in anthropology, environmental science, agriculture should be employed in Turbo, Kenya, as administrators such as subchiefs that can interpret government policies much better than standard eight and form four leavers who may not articulate government policies effectively due to lack of communication skills and understanding of the society.