Sandy: Fight against crime starts at home

National Security Minister Brigadier John Sandy has called on parents to take more responsibility for their children, to deter them from committing crimes. Sandy was speaking as Local Government Minister Chandresh Sharma and his wife Lyn yesterday “christened” his four children—Suvarn, 22, Munish, 21, Karuna, 20, and Devaan, 18, at a “Guru Diksha” yagna (prayers), held at the Divali Nagar site in Chaguanas. Sharma explained that a Guru Diksha yagna involved placing of children into the hands of a spiritual teacher who would guide them throughout their lives.

He said because of external influences, parents needed to take precautions and prepare their children for the wider world. As an added concept, Sharma also appointed foster parents for each of his children, to assist them in their career path and personal lives. “Parents can take charge up to a point...We have prepared our children for the global village but there are often external negative forces that we must guard against,” he said. “We want our children to be good role models so they can become good practitioners in whatever career they choose and also to have good family lives as well.”

He said Karuna was a second-year psychology student at the University of Toronto, while Suvarn was pursuing a master’s degree at the same university. Devaan, is a first-year engineering student at McMaster University, based at Ontario, Canada, while Munish is a third-year medical student at the university of the West Indies. Sandy, who attended the event, called on citizens to adopt the Guru Diksha values, which Sharma said had existed for thousands of years. Sandy said he was impressed by the ceremony and hoped more parents could adopt the values and provide guidance for their children.
“In the Christian faith, of which I am a part, we have godparents, but many times this is just cosmetic because we see the godparent for the christening and we never see them again during the child's life,” he said.

He said that over the past several months, during his battle with crime, he saw many broken homes.
He added that many children were negatively affected by the absence of a father and this contributed to rising crime: “T&T will be the best country in the world if only we could transport this custom to the rest of T&T,” Sandy declared, adding that children must be given proper care if they are to become successful citizens. Also attending the function were Housing Minster Dr Roodal Moonilal, Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh, Public Administration Minister Rudrawatee Nan-Ramgoolam, Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Suruj Rambachan and Minister of Science and Technology Fazal Karim.