Help for 71 at-risk boys at refurbished St Michael's

Over 71 boys in need of supervision will be moved into the St Michael's School for Boys, which is being converted into a home.

The process will be managed by the Military-Led Academic Training Programme, which falls under the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service.

The programme is geared towards social intervention and is specifically designed to help at-risk young men between 16 and 20 years transform their lives to help them achieve academic success.

St Michael's School for Boys in Diego Martin closed in 2018, after 129 years. The Office of the Prime Minister said the school, which has a capacity to accommodate 80 boys, but had been accommodating an average of four boys a month since November 2017, was closed because of the drastic fall in the number of residents.

In 2019, Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) Ayanna Webster-Roy announced the school would be converted to a home for boys.

Minister of Youth Development and National Service Fitzgerald Hinds told Newsday on Tuesday the project is still at an early stage – refurbishment, improvement, modernisation – where the focus is to carefully ensure these children receive the support and guidance needed.

With an increase in boys needing social intervention, he said, “I think it is self-evident that it is a concern to the Government. That's why we are restocking and improving the place because we understand that this situation exists.

"There are at least 71 boys, but anecdotally I understand that other boys are coming through in the system who show signs of needing that kind of care, support and development.

He said the occupants would typically be "CHINS," an acronym for"children in need of supervision."

They would be the ones who "generally would be sent by the court or might have been found to be uncontrollable and have been tossed out of school.”

The empty building is being refurbished by the Defence Force, as a cost-saving measure. The Defence Force will play a role in managing the home.