Have you ever been so frustrated at school to the point where you seriously considered dropping out of school? Do you feel that sometimes your academic pursuits are way beyond your own capacity? Well, if the answers to these questions are yes, I can sympathise with you. I have had such thoughts before, but I must admit our mindset ought to be changed. I have always heard of students dropping out of school for a multitude of reasons, however, I never experienced first hand, the reality of it. Unlike most of us who have choices, there are students who were never given a choice.
In order to understand better why students tend to drop out of school, I contacted the Young Men's Christian Association of Trinidad and Tobago (YMCA). The YMCA functions to work with students who may have dropped out of school, or students who may have been suspended. They also play an active role in youth empowerment and community development. There, I spoke with Mr Ernest Nurse, one of the lead facilitators of the mentor programme. Nurse disclosed that, "Students may be expelled and parents may never follow up or make an attempt to send their children back to school.
"Some children even pick up the roles of father figures in their homes". He then related various situations at the YMCA that he currently deals with in the mentor programme, however, because some of these students may be minors, the facilitator could not disclose too much about the situations.
He did indicate though, that the YMCA works closely with the Ministry of Education and after working with the students, recommends to the ministry whether or not they are suitable to re-enter the schooling system. Some of these students may have behavourial problems and thus are sent to learn a trade. These are the options that these students have. We have the option of stressing and complaining and still are a part of the education system.
How can we limit the amount of students that drop out of the school system? To this question, the facilitator responded, "We need a check and balance. How are students getting to school? Are they reaching to school? And if not, where are they going?" Nurse then insisted that this needs to work in relation with active social workers and counsellors who would seek the well being of each student. He admitted that there is some responsibility on the part of schools, but primarily it begins with parents in the home. So what if students are of the belief that they have the potential to become entrepreneurs, or believe that their efforts would be worthwhile elsewhere? Is it okay for a student to drop out of school then?
To this Nurse disagreed, stating, "in the long run, students would come to realise the importance and value of an education." He spoke of a situation where these 'dropouts' became older and had kids of their own; how are they going to help their children succeed when it comes to simple things such as getting their homework done. It can be easily inferred that this may cause a domino effect if education is not seen as important now. It would not be seen as important in the future. Education is the key to success. Yes we may have our daily stresses of projects, School Based Assessments, Internal Assessments, Labs and Tutorials, but we must remember and give thanks that we do have the option of a sound education and the potential to become successful!
Shahad Ali
Senior Press Pass Correspondent
University of the West Indies
