Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 21, 2010 News
Several parents taken to court for negligence – Education Ministry
As the Education Ministry works to intensify its truancy campaign to ensure all school age children attend school, some 35 truants from Region Three were apprehended last month.
The Schools’ Welfare Department reports that campaigns were conducted at the Parika Wharf area, Bushy Park, Farm, Parika Backdam, Parika Façade and Lookout, and the children were apprehended.
Since then both the truants and their parents were counseled by the Acting Chief Schools Welfare Officer, Carol Melville, in the presence of Schools Welfare Officers from Georgetown, Region Three, two Police officers, a Probation Officer and a representative of Region Three Women’s Affairs Committee. Some of the parents were subsequently issued warning letters, while others collected referral documents to obtain material support from Government and non-governmental organisations.
There were seven cases of parental neglect to educate the child, along with one alleged case of child labour, which when verified, may be forwarded to the Ministry of Labour.
The seven students whose parents have displayed negligent attitudes toward their education were placed in schools and their attendance is being monitored by the Schools’ Welfare Department.
The Schools’ Welfare Department categorically states that if these children are not attending school, their parents will be taken to court.
The department in March took seven Region Six-based parents to court for their negligence in educating their children and while the accused parents gave various reasons for their children not attending school, a presentation of the findings of the truancy campaign along with the head teacher’s report saw the parents changing their pleas to guilty.
The magistrate then ordered that all the children attend school within a two-mile radius with immediate effect.
Education Minister Shaik Baksh had earlier announced that his ministry will take a tougher stance against truancy and negligent parents will be placed before the court.
He explained that his ministry is moving in this direction because efforts to talk to parents of truants about the importance of educating their children are ineffective.
Admitting that truancy is a problem in Region Six and other parts of the country, Minister Baksh assures that stern action has to be taken to ensure these children not only attend school, but receive a proper education and become productive citizens.
The minister said too that his Government is providing free uniforms, text books and other forms of support to students, and all parents and teachers must honour their responsibility to support and educate the children.
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