Gadsby-Dolly: Soldiers may join police as role models at troubled schools

EDUCATION Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said defence force personnel might soon join community police officers placed at certain schools to help to socialise pupils such as serving as role models. She spoke in the House of Representatives on Friday on Naparima MP Rodney Charles' private motion chiding sing the Government's handling of violent crime.

Gadsby-Dolly said criminal gangs recruit in both primary and secondary schools, in a pattern seen for years. She said what is represented in this society is also represented in local schools.

Recalling a 1980s consultation on school violence, Gadsby-Dolly admonished, "Let us not pretend this is something that has now reared its head."

Rejecting Tabaquite MP Anita Haynes' earlier claim that certain measures would criminalise pupils , Dolly said the first priority was to secure the school environment and the safety of the pupils and teachers there. Gadsby-Dolly said her ministry collected data to inform its decisions and consulted with school principals and trade unions.

She advocated for "a focus on restorative justice", with teachers encouraging positive behaviour by pupils, but with punitive measures to set down standards that must be met.

On the topic of encouraging positive behaviour by pupils, she spoke of 500 bursaries to supplement the 100 scholarships awarded each year to students for tertiary education.

Comparing the previous allocation of 400 scholarships to the present 100 scholarships plus 500 bursaries, she said, "So instead of helping 400 people, we are now helping 600."

Gadsby-Dolly said her ministry's Student Support Services Division has a 700 employees, such that each school now has a social worker and a guidance counsellor.

"When we can track what is happening at a school and we can see their attendance, we can see their marks and their end of term grades at the click of a button, we can generate reports. It can show us the trends and it can show us where we patterns of indiscipline and we can better inform how we deal with it."

She said it was vital to give pupils a feeling that someone cares about them. The minister lamented many cases where schools could not contact parents of troubled pupils, and said the police have helped in this. "Those who under perform at the SEA are some of the worst offenders in indiscipline and are the ones that the gang member will recruit."

The minister said the introduction of community police at certain schools had made a "tangible difference" in the lives of students.

She said these officers have given pupils support, advice and guidance, and served as role models, including for some pupils from single-parent homes.

The minister mentioned the pending "introduction of defence force personnel into schools."

"As the family takes a hit, the results are seen in the school."

She said the root cause of pupil problems must be addressed, such as by inter-ministerial co-operation and the provision to pupils of structures like MILAT.

The minister said it had not been easy for pupils, teacher or ministry staff to transition as learning reverted to the physical classroom after virtual learning during the worst of the pandemic.

Earlier, Haynes warned that juvenile incarceration reduced the chances of youngsters finishing secondary school and raised the likelihood of their incarceration later in life.

Warning that a school drop-out was five times more likely to be arrested than a pupil who has graduated from secondary school, Haynes wondered about the future of 47,000 pupils who could not log on to virtual school lessons during the pandemic. "With 47,000 dropouts, we cannot say what tsunami will hit us in five years."