Positive steps at Laventille schools

IT may seem like a small project, but the children and parents enrolled in the Laventille/Morvant Schools’ Improvement Project for three weeks see it as a path to being better people.

Education Minister Anthony Garcia visited two of the schools on Tuesday to see the progress they had made.

He went to the Success/Laventille Secondary School where students were taught about the complex mind of the computer in easy steps, then went to the Russell Latapy Secondary School to witness the play of some youngsters who may one day become as good as their school’s namesake. It was part of a three-week camp session for students and members of the community.

The intention of the programme at Success/Laventille was to merge community and the school, interaction between parents and children.

Success/Laventille have mourned, within recent times, the murders of three of their students who were killed in two separate incidents.

In 2016, Denilson Smith and Mark Richards were shot while on their way home from school, and Joshua James was killed in a drive by on June 8.

This was the second year of this project where the ministry provided a tutor and other ministry personnel to provide information for life and other technical and hands-on skills. This year, several parents joined in, said vice principal Stacey Lezama.

“We have parents who are alongside their children learning how to use computers. It is the first community-based type of camp where parents can learn and have fun with their children. It is nice that parents can have access to the school so the school can be highlighted in a productive way.”

Garcia said the programmes were set up to stir a sense of well-being and discipline among the students. It is not just about playing football, but ordering the disciplinary aspect where we are concerned. It is also about teaching our children to work together in an atmosphere of rivalry without having any major conflicts.

“This is an area where we have a lot of problems in terms of violence and many of these students are subject to violence in their homes. Some of them have been telling us they have to dodge bullets at times and even step over dead bodies. We have been guiding them so that they will be changed so that in the not so distant future, we will see a dramatic decline in violence.”