Teachers and health professionals call for improvements to combat crime
Recommend legislation for parental responsibilities
By Melissa Bryant
Reporter~SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE teaching and health professionals in St. Kitts and Nevis have called for a number of improvements to be made within their respective professions in order to curb incidences of crime in the Federation.
These recommendations were tabled during the National Crime Consultation held at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort and Royal Beach Casino on Friday, December 12.
Stakeholders were placed into groups according to their area of expertise and, for the purpose of consultations, teachers, principals and Ministry of Education officials were merged with doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners.
Among the several proposals put forward was the need to strengthen and enhance the ability of teachers and guidance counsellors to execute their jobs effectively. This included having an individual guidance counsellor attached to each primary school and the training of teachers to identify special needs, behavioural issues and to detect deviant behaviour.
“Under the current system counsellors are attached to primary schools by region, so a counsellor could find himself with four or five schools and an insufficient amount of time to deal properly with the students under their care.
“One of the problems we’re having is that we aren’t addressing the issues at an early enough age and we think these solutions will enable teachers and guidance counsellors to have the know-how and the wherewithal to deal with the underlying issues of their students,” said group representative Naeemah Mennon. ~~Adz:Right~~
The group focused on the role of parents, recommending that legislation should be introduced to outline parental responsibility, the establishment of a National Parenting Programme and the existence of community support for school rules and disciplinary measures.
“The school and the community have to hold one head. Parents cannot pick and choose from the rules. That sends mixed signals to the students,” said Anthony Rogers, Personnel Officer in the Ministry of Education.
They also lobbied for the introduction of skill-based training programmes in schools, the enforcement of laws concerning minors and the implementation of a mandatory community service initiative for youth.
“We have legislation outlining a curfew for minors and their inability to do certain things such as purchase alcohol or to be in certain places such as gambling halls, but there is little enforcement and we need to not be afraid to offend parents.
“We have AVEC, we have Project Strong, we have the National Youth Skills Training Programme, but not a lot of support is given to these initiatives. All the emphasis is placed on CXC, so when children go into these programmes they feel as though they’re being herded into an alternative system. The community and the government must put their backing into these programmes and assess them periodically to ensure their effectiveness,” Mennon declared.
She further stated that the nation had developed a sense of entitlement in which children thought they could be rewarded for doing nothing and that it was important for them to feel as though they had to give back to society.
Other measures suggested by the group were a national policy for the operation of pre-schools and the execution of studies to address and determine the role of psychological and mental health issues in children’s academic successes or failures.
