Minister: Dropouts get second chances to become good citizens

EDUCATION Minister Dr Nyan Gadbsy-Dolly gave the assurance that Government has put measures in place to give children who drop out of school, a second chance to become productive citizens.

She made this statement in response to a matter on the adjournment of the Senate on Tuesday, raised by Opposition Senator Wade Mark.

"TT has a number of second chance options (for school drop outs)."

Gadsby-Dolly said one of them is the Military Led Academic Training (Milat) programme that falls under the Youth Development and National Service Ministry.

At a news conference at her ministry's office in Port of Spain on November 23, Gadsby-Dolly announced a mandatory policy to send students who were expelled from school for bad behaviour to Milat.

Responding to questions in the Senate on this issue on November 24, Gadsby-Dolly said she has legal authority to instruct that these students be placed in Milat.

After reminding senators that the compulsory school age for children is 16, Gadsby-Dolly said the ministry does what it can to ensure these children stay in school and address matters which cause them to drop out.

She identified lack of parental support, poverty, mental health and lack of interest by the children as some of the reasons why students drop out of school.

"Student truancy is an offence."

Gadsby-Dolly said efforts were first made by the school and ministry to speak with parents about why their children were not in school.

She added that such interventions normally worked.

In cases where they do not, Gadsby-Dolly continued, sometimes the community police are asked to have a word with the parents and children.

She added that children over 16 who drop out could not be forced to go back to school.

But she said options are made available for them to continue their education at other recognised educational institutions.

In raising this matter, Mark said no one knew what happened to students when they dropped out of school.

"They cannot be located. They just disappear into thin air."

He said statistics from the education ministry estimated that 1,500 to 2,000 secondary school students dropped out of school in 2017-2022.

In the absence of any hard data and with crime continuing to rise, Mark said one could only conclude that some of those dropouts ended up in gangs and involved in criminal behaviour.

"We have to know where these children are. When they drop out of school we must find them and help them."