Do more to protect children

THE EDITOR: It is very heartening that Minister of Education Anthony Garcia is concerned about the safety and welfare of children who are out out of school and largely in the care and supervision of parents, guardians, camp co-ordinators, care-givers, nannies and elder siblings.

Children are certainly at greater risk now as they are out of school, and, may or not be in the constant supervision of responsible adults. In any event, out of a controlled environment such as a school and homes, opens up a whole new scenario that could have serious repercussions for the health and safety of young ones.

Having said that, recent fatal incidents involving minors at home, on the road and in a bus are a cause for serious reflection. We need to reflect on how we care for our future generations and how we prepare for, prevent and deal with everyday dangers in and out of the safe confines of a home or school.

"Prevention is better than cure" and, "You're prepared to fail if you fail to prepare" are only clichés until we put them into practical use. In other words, we are always told we should be proactive. It can be the difference between life and death.

Why do we wait for an intruder to invade a school and attack a schoolteacher before we take preventative action? Why do we wait for a child to die from extreme heat in a school bus before we take action to "never let it happen again"? We wait until a large part of the road collapses before we make a move to fix the problem. We wait till gangs get firmly entrenched in a community before we move to 'fix the problem.'

There are those who have been put in charge of national affairs. Those who have been put there to see things before they happen or stem the tide before it gets to the point of no return.

CEOs, permanent secretaries, managers and technocrats are paid to be proactive and fix things before they are too far gone. Don't drop the ball. Please do your jobs. We must be proactive to save much needed funds and to save precious lives.

WKS HOSEIN, Chaguanas