The superintendent of the Firestone School System, Madam Dwede Hoto, wants Liberians rebuild their family structure. She made the call during a poorly attended Independence Day celebration in Kakata, Margibi County.

She indicated that when Liberians look back into their national history, they will discover that the years of civil conflict mostly affected the family which is the basic social institution that gives life to the society as a whole.

According to her, it is from the family that the various leaders of the nation come, whether religious or secular or governmental. "If the family is destroyed, from where will the nation find its leaders?" she asked.

Madam Hoto noted that it is disappointing to note that the indiscipline, unprofessionalism, greed and dishonestly among other to be common in most of the institutions today.

The retired classroom teacher who spoke on the theme "If The Foundation Is Destroyed What Should The Nation Do?" said "we must admit to ourselves that the years of war have really thrown us further backward," adding that "what then can we do".

She also put forward two key suggestions such as reinstituting family value and reinstituting the spirit of patriotism in the children.

According to her, to reinstitute family values such as respect, honestly truthfulness and Justice, Liberians must teach their children at home and in school to respect people.

She narrated that in the society today, there is so much cries about stealing, corruption, misappropriation of public funds, stating that it comes from the home.

Madam Hoto explained that there is also a culture of lies. "We lie about almost everything, we do not take time to investigate; we say one thing and mean another thing; and many times, we do not keep our word," she stressed.

She said fairness in the distribution of whatever is due to another person, community and etc starts from within the family.

Elaborating on reinstituting the spirit of patriotism in the children, Madam Hoto maintained that it also starts in the home by making the children develop a sense of belonging to the family, taking ownership of whatever the family has in the hope of passing it to the next generation, teaching them to cherish the family name and giving a good image of the family wherever they go.

She concluded that the citizens of this great land need to seriously look at the family as the bedrock of all other Institutions and collectively restore the core family values so as to rebuild our nation.