BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, July 29th, 2016 (PRESS SEC) – Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris said at Wednesday’s press conference that a Cabinet subcommittee met Tuesday with persons from among the top brass of the country’s security establishment, who voiced a need for reinforcements to fortify the safety and security of our country. This support, the security leadership said, ought to come from the whole society, particularly parents and families.
“We are mindful – and the security leadership did remind us [at Tuesday’s meeting] – that the challenge to maintain law and order, the safety and security of our beloved Federation resides squarely with all of us,” Prime Minister Harris said.
“The parents who are in their homes harbouring children who they know or ought to know are involved in criminal activity must take a stand in the interest of the safety and security of us all. The life that parent ends up saving may very well be hers or that of her child. So we appeal to the families. We want strong families, but we want law-abiding families. We appeal to every member of the community to appreciate that the law enforcement agencies cannot do it alone…We believe that Sunday school still has important value in the development of our country. Indeed, our Constitution recognizes that we are a nation under God.
We appeal to every father and every mother, every adopted father and every adopted mother, and every significant adult to do what you can to ensure that our young people are well involved in Sunday schools, and there are so many of them all across the length and breadth of St. Kitts and Nevis. There should be no excuse,” Dr. Harris added.
The Honourable Prime Minister’s latest appeal to families forms part of a large educational effort by the Team Unity Administration aimed at building cooperation between government and the country’s parents, in recognition of their role as primary socializing agents.
For instance, the Ministry of Community Development, Social Services and Gender Affairs held a workshop for teenage parents and at-risk youth from July 11th to 22nd. The Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), a regional poverty alleviation program funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), gave $200,000.00 in sponsorship, which also covered on-site day care for the workshop participants’ infant-to-toddler-aged children. The Ministry of Education’s Early Childhood Development Unit provided the day care at the Advanced Vocational Education Centre (AVEC) where the workshop was held.
“While the mothers are having their training, there is need for their children to be cared for and not just the minding, but they need stimulation, early stimulation,” Mrs. Valerie Dolphin, an Early Childhood Resource Teacher, told the St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS) on July 11th. “As you see, we have babies to older toddlers so there’s the need to have the children in a stimulating environment with persons who would have the previous experience about how to take care of young children of this nature,” Mrs. Dolphin added.
Prime Minister Harris has publicly recognized the important interventions that experts in child care, mental health and parenting can make in helping to reduce crime among young people who are at or under the age of 35 – a demographic that not only accounts for approximately 65% of the population of St. Kitts and Nevis, but also disproportionately comprises both victims and perpetrators of violent crime.
During Dr. Harris’ feature address at the passing out parade for recruits of the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force on April 14th, he said that, “Truancy programs, parenting workshops, mentoring initiatives and the like can play a vital role in reducing homicides and violent crime, so we need all hands on board not only in the public sector, but in civil society to open up rehabilitative avenues for our families and, more importantly, our young people.”
In his official address to mark the occasion of the Team Unity Administration’s first anniversary in office on Tuesday, February 16th, 2016, Prime Minister Harris noted five points related to the country’s youth, parents and families that he said require “collective, national effort on a consistent basis.”
These are:
- Abatement of crime, especially homicides among our young men,
- Strengthening of families,
- Return to positive influences for young people,
- Parenting skills and responsibility, and
- Inculcation of life skills, anger management training, conflict resolution and diversion programs to bring about positive attitudinal and behavioural changes in our youth.
At the 2015 National Consultation on the Economy hosted by the Ministry of Finance under the theme “Changing Lives – A Fresh Start Towards Sustainable Development, Growth and Prosperity,” Prime Minister Harris said his Unity Government “intends to examine in detail, with a view to enhancing in a significant way, parenting programs and the systems that are in place to reduce truancy.”
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