KAY-MARIE FLETCH­ER

Se­nior Re­porter

kay-marie.fletch­er

@guardian.co.tt

Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Nyan Gads­by-Dol­ly has re­ceived sup­port from ed­u­ca­tion stake­hold­ers for her pro­pos­al to in­tro­duce manda­to­ry na­tion­al ser­vice for re­peat delin­quent of­fend­ers.

Dur­ing the 2023 bud­get de­bate in Par­lia­ment on Wednes­day, Gads­by-Dol­ly said the time might have come to deal with stu­dents who are vi­o­lent and com­plete­ly un­in­ter­est­ed in ed­u­ca­tion.

The T&T Uni­fied Teach­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (TTUTA), Na­tion­al Par­ent-Teach­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (NPTA) and the Con­cerned Par­ents Move­ment of T&T are all in agree­ment and said they ready and will­ing to work along­side the min­istry to im­ple­ment that pro­pos­al.

TTUTA’s vice-pres­i­dent Adesh Dwari­ka said: “The as­so­ci­a­tion has been ad­vo­cat­ing for the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion to im­ple­ment oth­er mea­sures apart from sus­pen­sions and what ex­ists in or­der to deal with the re­cent state of vi­o­lence and de­viant be­hav­iour com­ing from stu­dents so, of course, we wel­come the ini­tia­tive. How­ev­er, it has be well thought out, well or­gan­ised, so that the stu­dent can ben­e­fit from it. It can­not be a mea­sure that’s a one size fit all.

“We wel­come the ini­tia­tive of the min­is­ter. We look for­ward to her dis­cussing with us how the plan is go­ing to be ful­ly rolled out and of course, give sug­ges­tions in terms of how we think it would be the best way to im­ple­ment.”

Pres­i­dent of the Con­cerned Par­ents Move­ment Clarence Men­doza al­so agreed with the min­is­ter.

“They are now us­ing the young ladies who are com­ing in­to the com­pound to trans­port the drugs. The young ladies are be­ing paid to trans­port the drugs by these boys. They are sell­ing on the com­pound. They are smok­ing on the com­pound. And then they are hav­ing sex … I’m in agree­ment with the min­is­ter hav­ing a con­sul­ta­tion on this mat­ter at this point in time.”

Men­doza al­so rec­om­mend­ed that the min­istry hire tru­an­cy of­fi­cers to in­ves­ti­gate the con­tin­ued ab­sence of stu­dents and to work along­side the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) on K-9 search­es at school en­trances to de­tect drugs.

He said while po­lice pres­ence at schools is wel­comed, two of­fi­cers in a ve­hi­cle out­side a sec­ondary school of 800 stu­dents will not do.

NPTA pres­i­dent Kevin David said the con­cept of manda­to­ry na­tion­al ser­vice for re­peat of­fend­ers is in­ter­est­ing. He said the NPTA is in sup­port of mea­sures to help these chil­dren.