San Fernando mayor Dr Navi Muradali believes involvement in the arts and sports will curb juvenile delinquency and crime. His comments came a day after a student from the Pleasantville Secondary School was stabbed for allegedly refusing to join a robbery ring at the school.
He was speaking at a press conference to launch the Val Turton/Carl Osbourne Foundation's double-header intercol classic at City Hall yesterday, Muradali lamented the prevalence of youth delinquency in schools. "It is happening all around us in secondary schools but education and sports are the cure for youth delinquency," Muradali said.
He commended the foundation for uplifting youths and encouraging them to take part in positive ventures. Muradali also said he recently had some floodlights repaired at the Hazel Rogers-Dick Play Park and was pleased to see many young people using the facility.
"Before the lights were installed young people would sit in the dark smoking and you never knew what they were up to. "Since we got the lights, families are spending time in the park. You can see young people playing basketball and football. "The are engaging in healthy competitions and after that they are tired so they do not have time for crime and delinquency," Muradali said.
The mayor also offered a $6,000 bursary to the foundation to encourage youth involvement in sports. With regard to the arts, Muradali said incentives would be given to students from surrounding schools to create a mural at Harris Promenade. He said San Fernandians had lost pride in the promenade.
"We have to restore pride in that space and we want the youths to assist us in doing so," Muradali said. He added that the proceeds of the mayor's charity dinner on Saturday would be used to support the rehabilitation of street-dwellers. "We will upgrade the Court Shamrock facility. I will not be reckless to have police remove the street dwellers, like what happened in another city. I will ensure they are rehabilitated," Muradali said.
President of the foundation, Joel Edwards, said the double-header will be on Saturday at Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella, from 2 pm. He said the foundation had distributed $197,000 to 35 students since its inception in 2002.