Rosemarie Sant
Fewer than ten of the 20 students suspended from the Chagaunas North Secondary School, who were sent to the now defunct Couva West Secondary School for assessment and rehabilitation, made it to the school yesterday.
The students are required to report daily to the school for the rest of the term and the school supervisor is required to submit a daily report to the Ministry of Education.
Asked whether the low attendance had to do with transportation issues or lack of interest, CEO of the Ministry of Education, Harrilal Seecharan, said the ministry was awaiting a report from the supervisor and will do follow-up with parents to determine why the students were not where they were asked to be.
He said the ministry was willing to provide whatever assistance the students needed to ensure they attended the facility. This includes, if necessary, providing school transportation and school meals.
Letters were sent to the parents of the students asking them to attend the first day of “school” with the children.
A team from the School Support Services is being joined by social workers, counsellors and other trained personnel to assess and determine their specific needs.
Education Minister Anthony Garcia said before identifying the school, which has been closed for a number of years, supervisors “did a thorough check of the building to determine whether it was structurally sound and to ensure there were no intrusions of any kind of negative elements” whether those were criminal or homeless people who had taken shelter in the facility.
He said the students and the parents would be asked a questions to determine, among other things, whether issues at home could account for their behaviour and what could be done to help change their behaviour. Seecharan said the ultimate aim was to “assist the students through guidance counselling, conflict resolution and support to address relationships.”
Parents are required to be there, he said, for the “orientation” and then they would be invited to return on a “needs be basis as determined by the officers from the Student Support Services and other experts.”
Seecharan said there was a similar centre in South East Port-of-Spain which was operational and the ministry was in the process of trying to identify other venues, “because the aim is to provide the support across the board.”
Seecharan said while the minister had the power under the Education Act to remove a child from school they were “trying to facilitate and support the children whether it involves rehabilitation or bringing them back into the school system but we don’t intend to leave them on their own,” he said.
The ministry, he said, already had resources from the Student Support Services and other internal resources but he said they also intended to partner with other institutions, including MIC and YMCA “for similar type intervention.”