The SN of February 6 reported that a child from Berbice was found guilty of wandering (‘Blairmont boy, 12, sent to NOC for three years’). Magistrate Hawke reportedly “lamented… the decision…”
Wandering is one of those colonial perversions we retain long after we gained independence. Slaves used to be beaten and flogged for wandering from their masters – escaping was an offence. Independent and Republican Guyana seems to want to accord children who are mostly escaping from abusive situations or situations of neglect, the same status as slaves, property to be moved from one place to another – in this case from familiar surroundings in Berbice all the way to Essequibo.
Section 15(1) of the present Education Act (under ‘Provisions for Enforcing Elementary Education of Children’) states:
“If any child is found habitually wandering or not under proper control or in the company of rogues, vagabonds, disorderly persons… he may be taken into custody by an attendance officer or other authorized person, or by any police constable authorized by the Chief Education Officer to detain children so found, until a complaint can be preferred against him and he can be brought before a magistrate.”
Help & Shelter in its submission to the Education Act Reform Taskforce had noted that truancy is more often than not the result of neglect and/or other forms of child abuse by caregivers and that section 15(1), which in effect criminalises a victim, should be repealed.
It was also noted that the 1995 Family Maintenance and Related Matters Committee (whose report was accepted by the government nearly a decade ago) recommended that:
“4. Section 15 of the Act should be transferred to the new Children Act and amended accordingly as it provides for children found habitually wandering, or in the company of criminals. This ought not to be regarded as an offence, and no complaint should be brought against a child.
“11. All drop-outs should be encouraged to re-enter the school system, and social welfare organisations should be encouraged to provide necessary support services.”
The 2005 UNICEF/Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security/Red Thread Report ‘Voices of Children: Experiences with Violence’ had reported about the NOC that “The majority of children spoken to in the NOC had experienced serious and frequent physical and emotional abuse at home and this abuse had often contributed to the events which led them to be committed to the NOC. [Children who run away from abusive homes and are committed to the NOC are] effectively being punished for trying to protect themselves from abuse.”
Another Berbice Magistrate had sentenced a girl to the NOC, despite the reports about the girl’s family. Concerned magistrates should stop sentencing children to the NOC and start bringing charges against the agencies and individuals who should ensure that children have safe environments in which they can be nurtured.
We should be ashamed that wandering is still an offence in our laws.
Yours faithfully,
Vidyaratha Kissoon
