After school had reassembled for the start of the new academic year barely three weeks ago, small groups of children could still be seen roaming some streets in the middle of the morning.
The group on Thomas Street a week ago today, all but one primary boys, was dressed in what appeared to be regulation school uniform. Some of them were carrying small piles of exercise books bent double. The girl, who was wearing the expression of a reluctant accomplice was carrying a bag slung over her shoulder and across her chest.
School appeared to be the last thing on their minds and they appeared mindful of the power they wielded which allowed them the prerogative of arbitrarily extending the holidays. This handful of youngsters symbolize what the social commentators say has been a shift in the balance of power between students and authority. Time was when truancy required discretion and furtiveness. Not so these days.
This particular group appeared unmindful of its conspicuousness, the girl to a lesser extent than her male colleagues.
There was a time too when an insistent adult query would have brought their delinquent act to an abrupt end. Not so these days, and on Tuesday the adults appeared disinterested. It should be added that there was a time too when the Ministry of Education employed Truancy Officers, but these are rarely heard of nowadays.
Earlier in the course of the same week other groups could be seen – in one instance wandering aimlessly in the vicinity of an East Coast market. These were village children and they appeared far more mindful of the proximity of the people around them. The city children had appeared unfettered by such constraints.
As far as one can tell the rate of absenteeism during the first few weeks of the Christmas term is among the highest in the entire academic year. On the whole the Christmas term is felt to be the least productive as far as academic work is concerned. It is a term that is punctuated by disruptions associated with what has become the tedious and protracted process of distributing textbooks (there have been instances in some state schools where some children are yet to receive more than a single textbook) and the annual school sports, which, when account is taken of the administrative issues and the physical preparation of the athletes, usually extends itself over several weeks.
The other factor that usually impacts on the Christmas term is the notion that because it is the furthest term away from any real crucial examination – save and except the Grade Six Assessment – that this is enough reason not to take that particular term seriously. The Ministry of Education says that it has been urging heads of schools to ‘hit the ground running’ at the beginning of every academic year. There is evidence that the ministry’s point does not appear to be getting through to all of its schools.
Our own enquiries in a lower East Coast village where a state-run primary school is located suggest that parents continue to buy into the notion that the Christmas term is really no more than a ‘dry run’ for the two more important terms ahead.
Rolling back truancy and absenteeism is largely – although not exclusively – the responsibility of parents and guardians. Our education system may have its various weaknesses but it cannot be expected to take all the responsibility for ensuring that children show up for school. Apart from that being primarily a parental responsibility, it is, too, a collective community responsibility. Last week, when small groups of schoolchildren were on the streets in the middle of the morning there were adults on the streets too. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a lack of public spiritedness, an absence of mindfulness on the part of the grown-ups. There used to be more of those virtues not so many years ago. The contemporary transformation in attitudes, of both adults and children is one of the fundamental and deeply damaging changes that our society has undergone.
The problems of truancy and absenteeism are widely believed to be a function in the first instance of the less than salutary quality of the relationship between parents and schools across the country’s education system. We believe there is merit to this view. Indeed, this newspaper has argued previously for stronger, more constructive parent-school relationships as a means of resolving some of the major problems facing the education system. Truancy and absenteeism are good examples of serious problems that can be addressed, at least in part, through closer parent-teacher collaboration. The problem here, in our view, is that, on the whole, too little attention is paid to building vibrant Parent-Teacher Associations in schools where the two can manage together. Instead, all too often, there appears to be a surfeit of conflict and ill will between parents and schools.
