The launching last Thursday at the school at D’urban Backlands, Georgetown was attended by senior education officials, scores of parents, teachers and students.
The ministry said in a press release that newly-appointed Parent-Teacher Association Coordinator Carol Benn told the gathering that the programme is geared to build the esteem of students, improve their relationship with peers, teachers and members of the community, and enhance their performance in the classroom as well as ensure a safe school environment.
The students will be mentored by parents, teachers, eligible community members, members of the disciplined services, fellow students and other role models in society.
Benn said that the mentors will emphasize to students the value of education and serve as guides in helping them overcome their challenges. She also explained that the programme is aimed at engendering positive change in the behaviour of students and called on the mentors to deliver on their responsibility.
The PTA coordinator urged the mentors to work closely with the PTAs and suggested that apart from their pep-talk with students, they should form sport, environmental and religious clubs to keep them meaningfully occupied.
Moreover, Benn appealed to the large gathering of parents to pay closer attention to their children’s behaviour both in and out of school.
Parents should check their children’s bags before they leave for school and after they return, as this can go a far way in reducing the problems some pose to their peers and teachers. Benn noted that while the education ministry is aiming to end all forms of violence in school, it is necessary for parents to work closely with the school to know how their children behave.
The PTA coordinator added that the ministry is also seeking to break up the gangs that have a negative influence on schoolchildren.
Meanwhile, Principal Education Officer, George-town, Marcel Hutson said that parents have a critical role to play in imparting values of discipline in their children and he pointed out that indiscipline is often seen when they receive limited supervision.
Hutson emphasized that the problem of students’ indiscipline is not a matter to be addressed by parents and the schools alone but the community must play its role as well.
He also expressed the view that the problem of students’ indiscipline in the school system has been misrepresented in the media, pointing out that the vast majority of students are well behaved although there are a few who have attracted the negative publicity which is blown out of proportion.
And Student Mentor Dr Dalgleish Joseph said that parents have to identify the problems with their children and strive to remedy the situation while teachers must create the environment where students can learn. Good parenting, he added, means setting good examples and he underscored that discipline must be a product of the home, the release concluded.
