Business sector to do its part in the fight against crime
By VonDez Phipps
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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| LIME’s VP of Corporate Communications Lavern Caines |
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – Speaking on behalf of the business stakeholders at Friday’s (Dec.12) National Consultation on Crime, telecommunication company LIME’s VP of Corporate Communications Lavern Caines advocated for more focus to be put on diversifying the Federation’s education system so those students not academically inclined would not feel displaced and turn to crime.
“We need to focus on our education system! It’s time to review how we do things; the fact that we marginalize those children who don’t do so well and those who do well are glorified says it all. It is against that backdrop that we came up with a few recommendations,” the executive offered.
Caines said there have been lengthy discussions about the structure of the country’s education system and it is believed that too much focus has been placed on academics leaving very little for students interested in technical training. Caines said changing the approach will give students some assurance that they can be a fully functioning member of society, notwithstanding not be academically-driven.
“On the area of life skills, I want to take the audacity to recommend that the curriculum in schools be more diverse to meet the modern needs of today’s children. Teaching life skills as part of the curriculum should be a core of academic programmes. We also recommended mentoring and extra-curricular activities; the schools should incorporate music and IT programmes which would help to shape the talents of youths. We also need to expand the responsibility of teachers so that they become social shapers rather than just be confined to teaching.” ~~Adz:Right~~
Caines said the group stressed the role of individual responsibility as it “requires a holistic approach to curb crime”. She added that each individual has a responsibility to correct and guide persons who may be leaning toward crime, and noted that the approach must be not be combative.
“Although this effort may seem very miniscule, I think it may be very powerful. Building stronger family structures is a sure way to go. There is a strong feeling that there needs to be a strong, controlled, responsible fatherhood within families. It is believed that the lack of fathering is deteriorating our families and by extension our young boys. To this point, the social services department and NGO’s have been challenged to take on this whole issue and co-operate with other sectors to ensure that they are being challenged to take this on.
“There was also strong debate in the group that parents need to be educated on the role of gang culture; we need to understand the language of the gang, the signs of the gangs and how they function. We are calling on the persons who have the know-how to engage parents in a one-on-one exercise to prepare them in this regard.”
The group also recommended that trial of criminals be done swiftly to avoid them from “hiding from the law”, and expressed that once sentenced, criminals should undergo hard labour which may act as a deterrent to committing crime.
Caines further stated that each corporate entity should make it a policy that its staff is exposed to parenting skills as a part of the under job training, and also offer internships to school-leavers so that “by the time they are ready for work, they would understand discipline, honesty and punctuality”.
She added that the country’s corporate entities should express a willingness to divulge some of their profit to assist in the fight against crime, and indicated that there would be a plan forthcoming from the CIC giving recommendations in relation to the sector’s plan to address and combat crime.
