The Ministry of Labour has announced a drastic improvement in school attendance, punctuality and performance, and a reduction in students’ indiscipline, based on the preliminary results of the School Retention Programme implemented via the Tackle Pilot Project to stop child labour by keeping children in the school system.
The initiative is the result of an agreement signed in 2008 between the ministry, and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the ministry said in a press release. It provides about US$219,000 in funding for the Elimination of Child Labour via the Tackling Child Labour Through Education (Tackle) Project.
One of the components of the Tackle Project is the School Retention and Child Labour Prevention Program-me, which was launched in September 2011. It aims to ensure that children remain in the school system and complete their secondary education, in order to prevent truancy, dropping out of school and child labour. This is done through the provision of transportation daily to take children to school and back to their communities in the afternoons, as well as the provision of hot meals three times per week, snacks and snacks twice per week for children enrolled in the remedial after-school programme.
The programme was intended to be a seven-month initiative but was extended to 2013 and targets communities along the Soesdyle-Linden Highway between Silver Hill and Soesdyke. The beneficiaries are the 360 children attending the Kuru Kuru nursery and primary schools and the Dora Secondary School, as well as parents and community members.
While the agreement ends this month, the project is likely to continue as funding has been identified to continue the nutrition and transportation aspects in the short term.
Speaking at the closing ceremony on Thursday at Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport base, formerly the Kuru Kuru College, Labour Minister Dr Nanda Kishore Gopaul recalled that prior to the project, the remoteness of the communities and lack of access to reliable transportation had been a major contributory factor to absenteeism at school, which adversely impacted performance and the completion of secondary education. Consequently, school-aged children were seeking employment.
“We have been working dedicatedly to end child labour and ensure that our people are educated and empowered to benefit from opportunities. This also helps to prevent Trafficking in Persons [TIP]. We are working hard to eliminate child labour and TIP, and I assure you that we will not fail to prosecute perpetrators,” Dr Gopaul said. He then referred to a trial last month where a businessman was convicted and sentenced to a four-year-jail term for trafficking in persons. “We hope that sends the message that perpetrators will not escape,” he added.
The project also offered support to families of children attending school to encourage them to ensure regular, punctual attendance. This support encompassed training sessions on parenting, psychosocial counselling and the formation of parent support groups. “Parents have a responsibility to ensure their children go to school,” the minister said, adding that government is aware the financial constraints parents face and has provided each public school child with a uniform voucher, exercise and text books and in some communities, particularly the far-flung areas, hot meals and riverine transportation.
Dr Gopaul said government has contributed US$10, 000 to sustain the programme when the ILO funds have finished and it is committed to finding alternatives to sustain it. Regarding early-school leavers, the minister said government has provided opportunities for them to obtain marketable skills through training programmes via the Board of Industrial Training. The Board has been tasked with going into communities to introduce its services to youth. Also, $224 million has been set aside to fund these training programmes this year.
Literacy, numeracy skills improve
Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary at the ministry Lorene Baird said she is satisfied with the results of the Tackle Project and strongly advocated for continued funding. She noted that the level of literacy and numeracy skills in the schools has improved, as has the number of students who wrote the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) at the Kuru Kuru Primary School and the CSEC examinations at Dora secondary.
The head teachers of both schools underscored the difference the project has made in terms of attendance and punctuality. Dora Secondary School headmaster Garfield Morris said previously he had to accompany students to the highway to ensure they got public transportation and sometimes they would be there late in the evenings. Parents had security concerns and attendance was affected. Morris also noted that in 2011, there were no candidates for CSEC at the school, but last year 20 students wrote the exam and about 65 per cent of them attained five or more subjects. The students have also displayed greater discipline and there is a notable reduction in incidents involving weapons at the school.
Kuru Kuru Primary Head Teacher Marilyn Williams noted similar results at her school. This year 19 pupils wrote the NGSA examinations with commendable results. The project also included an allied arts component with drama production and poetry which allowed Kezie Methland to enter this year’s Mashramani Poetry competition and gain second place.
Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Education Officer (Secondary) Doodmattie Singh lauded the benefits of the project, noting that they are far reaching and will impact decisions about the importance of education made by students even when they become parents. “Child rearing practices are handed down to generations, so equipping these parents with skills to deal with various behaviour patterns, they are teaching their children and their children with teach the next generation,” she said.
Dora Secondary PTA Chairman Jagan Jacobs also noted the benefits that the project has accrued; however, he suggested that consideration be given to purchasing vehicles for transportation for students instead of renting them. In response, Baird said funding agencies often oppose such undertakings but the ministry will examine the matter.
Jacobs also noted that the community has started setting aside money to help sustain the programme.
According to the press release, Kelvin Sergeant, specialist on sustainable enterprise development and job creation at the ILO office in Trinidad told the audience at the ceremony that the pilot may be the only one of its kind in the Caribbean and the next key step would be sustainability. He suggested that villagers could examine the model of a cooperative to continue the programmes, particularly the purchase of buses for transportation.
