by DONNA SEALY

SOME SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN in Barbados are doing more than selling drugs.

Addressing a Parent-Teacher Association meeting at Charles F. Broome Primary School yesterday, Director of Youth Affairs Richard Carter said there were cases where children had done drug runs down to St Vincent on the weekends and then went to school on Monday morning.

"There are documented cases where children are involved on the weekends in cutting up marijuana, packaging it, and preparing it for sale.

"Children as young as primary schoolchildren are assisting in the marketing and distribution of marijuana," he added.

Carter shared with the large turnout some of the findings of a survey he recently conducted on violence in schools, and told them that issues like the one mentioned had everything to do with their children because it showed the kind of society they were living in.

"Many of us, because of where and how we live, are shielded from these things. We do not see them on a day-to-day basis; we're unaware that they exist," he told the parents.

Carter said there were no "one size fits all answers" to the problems of indiscipline, and some of the behaviours being exhibited ran deeper than the surface.

He said he found that some of the factors causing violence included the youngsters wanting to be "bad" and the fact that having "a reputation" was important to them.

"Going alongside that, you have children saying they did not want to appear as though they were afraid.

"Therefore, even if they might have been persons who would have walked away from a situation, not wanting to appear as though they were cowards, afraid or wanting to appear weak, was a reason they have given for having gotten involved," he added.

"Some of the reasons given by the students range from basic things that will happen in the course of everyday activities that got out of proportion, to things that are coming from outside of the society and being introduced into the schools," he said.

donnasealy@nationnews.com