Thirty-five school-aged children were picked up during an anti-truancy campaign in Region Five last week.
Among them were two children, ages 11 and 12 of Shieldstown, Rosignol, West Berbice, whose mother died a year ago. Since then, they have not been attending school and would be found wandering all day. Their father, a minibus driver, later went along with other parents to the ‘holding centre’ at the Rosignol Primary School to pick them up. The man explained to the School’s Welfare Officers (SWO) that he leaves home early in the mornings for work and is not around to see that the children attend school. Other parents told the officers that their children are “disrespectful” and would not listen to them. Instead of going to school they would be walking all over.
As the officer drove around the other areas, including Ithaca, Blairmont, D’ Edward and Cotton Tree, some of the children scooted. They hid under the Rosignol Stelling while a few who were fishing jumped “overboard,” knowing that the officer would not go there and get them and some ran away in bushes.
According to the officers, some of the children were even caught at their ‘workplaces’ and their parents blamed poverty as the reason for them working at such young ages. Senior SWO Gillian Vyphuis warned the parents that it was an offence to deny their children the right to an education and told them that they could be locked up.
She stated that the Education Act stipulates that they must ensure that their children are educated and that they attend school regularly. Some parents said that they did not send their children to school because they were “sick” but Vyphuis questioned why they were on the streets if they were indeed sick.
Some of the parents were given forms to have their children readmitted at school while others who had never attended school were given admission forms to start. Vyphuis said the department would be checking the school records to verify that the parents were complying and if not they could be charged and placed before the courts.
