(Trinidad Express) – The Government will be pumping financial resources into tackling the social root of what is driving criminality in the nation’s children, says Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
Speaking at the opening of the St Clair Police Station yesterday, the prime minister said something is happening in our schools where some children are “angels” in the primary school system and then “demons” when they enter secondary school.
This problem, he said, stems from poor parenting, and he urged parents and guardians to reflect on whether they are exercising their responsibility in looking after their children.
The Prime Minister noted that next month marks seven years since this country has been under his leadership, as he noted that hundreds of millions of dollars were spent in security and the justice system.
“The Government is going to direct more resources to this issue at this time because it is required. Something is happening between our nine- and ten-year-olds and our 17-year-olds that is causing our society to be what it is,” he said.
“We must now direct resources to find out what is going on in this vacuum between ten-year-olds and the 17-year-olds, and set about to produce a better citizen in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said, adding that if this is not dealt with, “we will be on this merry-go-round until we lose our balance and spin off in pain and destruction.”
Rowley said he often visits primary schools and interacts with the pupils who are all less than 12 years old and are like “angels”.
“By the time they get to age 15, there is a pattern of behaviour in the secondary schools that gets more and more unacceptable,” he said.
Poor parenting
Rowley said the cost of a secondary school used to be $10 million apiece and they are now $240 million, but he noted teachers’ salaries are considerably higher today.
“By age 15 we have a cohort of the population that is beginning to demonstrate a penchant for violence that is unacceptable. By the time they get to age 17 and they come out of the school, they are no longer under the school disciplinary umbrella, they are now in society, some of them working, some of them liming, some of them training to handle firearms and a whole wave of violence is unleashed,” he said.
He continued, “And you ask yourself what would have happened between the primary school angels and the demons that the police are confronting from time to time… something is happening inside there that needs to be found, needs to be addressed, otherwise this cycle will only get further and further away from us and it will only get worse,” he said.
He said he is open to advice, but he is “not entirely without brain cells” so he can come to a conclusion now before he is advised that a significant portion of the difficulty in this country is poor parenting.
The prime minister urged parents and guardians to quietly reflect on whether they are discharging their responsibility to the family and nation as they parent that child.
“If the answer is no, you are not doing what you should be doing. I am asking you here today to assume that responsibility,” he said.
He also appealed to parents to speak to their children and discourage them from a life of crime if they are aware that they are involved in criminal activities.
Building trust in police
Rowley also had a message for the police.
“We will not be able to jail ourselves out of this or shoot ourselves out of this or kill ourselves out of this, because those are not actions that are for correction or for guidance. That is when you come to the end of the line,” he said.
Rowley said it is not sufficient to come every two months and “wail and whimper” over someone who was killed.
He said the country needs to get to the root of this problem, and it starts in the schools and an appreciation of respecting other people’s space and rights.
He said it starts with assuming responsibility for your own behaviour and not making excuses for people whose behaviour is destructive and that applies to people in the Police Service, too.
He noted that he repeatedly said to the police, Coast Guard and Defence Force “if there are people who have found themselves into the ranks of the uniformed officers and they are not measuring up to the standard that is set, that is expected by the population, get them out! Because if you don’t get them out, it is quite possible they will end up as commissioner of police.”
The prime minister said there is an extra responsibility to those who wear a uniform, so that when issues arise you can have the trust of the population that the circumstances must have warranted it.
“Today that trust is not there. You have to build it. It will not be built if the population is of the view that there are people in the Police Service who should not be there because they are dishonest, they are lazy, they are unthoughtful, and all they will do is just enjoy the salary, enjoy the rank and possibly abuse it,” he said.
