Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, Santia Bradshaw says the mechanisms for dealing with at risk children have to be strengthened.
Speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday as consideration was given to the funds allotted to her ministry for the upcoming financial year, Minister Bradshaw said that additional resources need to be made available to the Ministry for psychological testing. She further added that though there are guidance counsellors working in the system, additional resources are required to be able to maximise their full potential, so that they can in turn provide the best service to the youth.
Turning her attention to bullying, the education minister said that it remains a major problem, but one that the ministry is working on in conjunction with UNICEF, which has supported its anti-violence campaign. While noting that bullying is at the root of a lot of the issues facing the education system, she said it is imperative that teachers are better trained to employ conflict resolution tactics, so as to assist the youth to find better ways to resolve conflict.
While noting that UNICEF is providing additional funds for that initiative, she added that Supreme Counselling for Personal Development has proposed to the Ministry, a system through which students and the general public can report acts of bullying. She said this will be done through a pilot project initially, and persons will be able to report the incidences through an app on their phone. She indicated that they are working on getting Wi-Fi compatibility at the schools to help facilitate the use of the app.
“It would allow you to indicate the institution… if you are aware of the name of the student, it would allow you to indicate the name of the student and the intention is, that apart from training a teacher within the system to assist with this programme, you would also maybe have a centre where the calls are taken and the information in taken in electronically, and then persons can respond to the issues and the incidences that have presented themselves,” she added.
Her comments came as she also noted the need to maintain a safe schools both in terms of the physical plants and the environment, as she alluded to the environmental challenges facing schools across the country. She made the point while referring to the protest by parents which was scheduled to take place at the Milton Lynch Primary School yesterday, as a result of environmental problems.
“You can replicate every single day an issue in relation to environmental issues across this country…. Unfortunately it is not that we in the ministry do not appreciate and understand the concerns of students, parents, principals, administrators and the environments they have to work in. But truthfully there is really not enough money to fix all of the issues that are presenting themselves all at the same time,” she said.
With that in mind, she said steps will be taken to put proper maintenance plans in place and to reorganise the Education Technical Management Unit, the department that currently addresses environmental problems.
“To do justice to the concerns that people across the country have, we have to take control now of the way in which we maintain our schools. We have seen some changes in relation to maintenance already. I have certainly started to work with the Member for St. Michael East in relation to recognising that the Ministry of Education does not have the resources to be able to address certainly the exterior of the school plants and to try to work with him, with his limited budget, to be able to have a portion of that budget allocated to ensuring that we can address the problems of rodents and monkeys and cockroaches,” she said.
Noting that it is a serious problem and there are not enough resources to fix them, she called on the private sector and parents to get involved and offer assistance to the schools. (JRT)