Friday, March 29, 2024

TALKBACK: Parents’ job to ensure children get to school

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IT IS NOT THE JOB of teachers to patrol the bus terminals and ensure children make their way to school.

Rather, parents have to impress upon children the need to get to school early or failing that, make them pay for travelling on the public buses.

This was in response to Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley who expressed concern about the number of children loitering in the Fairchild Street Bus Terminal last week when school resumed. Lashley also said the truant officers needed to be more visible.

The following are some of our online readers’ responses:

Erasmus Black: Sounds good Mr Minister, but in the short term just have two patrolling police officers to pass through the terminal during the day when making their rounds. Problem solved! You would not have to budget for them and they do have powers of arrest. They would not have to tolerate back talk, potentially menacing body language, dismissive attitudes . . . . 

Miriam E Hope-Bryant: Why do we have to pay persons to make our children go to school? In my day parents and the community at large did this. 

Amarilis Lily: I was my own truancy officer. Parents have to set rules, boundaries and limitations and dispense discipline when these rules are breached.

Anne-Marie Holder: I play police with mine.

Robin Collymore: I see these children every morning in that terminal; some of them are so disrespectful. If the police aren’t there the security officers oftentimes try their best to ensure the students board the buses, and the verbal abuse these officers have to put up it, it’s so shameful. They wait until the police or security officers are distracted and then disappear, average when that bus leaves, then magically reappear.

Veronica A. Piggott: Government can’t do everything for everyone. Putting more officers to police these children is not the answer. Can’t give them everything free. Parents need to step up to the plate; some of them don’t even work. Let the children go to sleep early and wake early to go to school and the school should notify the parents if they are constantly late.

Allison Dublin: Why must the principal have to send someone to make sure the children go to school? Utter foolishness! In this day and age parents need to step up and play a pivotal role in the children’s future. 

Child Nice: Make the children pay bus fare. Most of them have very expensive phones and lime in the terminals with them in hand doing who knows what. All these people the minister want in the terminals have to be paid. So let the money that buying and putting credit on these phones go toward paying them. The working people can’t get a bus, but these children don’t pay and have priority of getting the bus first.

Daniel A Boxill: Instead of trying to put more responsibility on teachers all the time, it’s time we start prosecuting more parents so they take responsibility for the children they brought in the world.

Keisha N Moore: Send teachers to bus terminals? That is not a teacher’s job. Teacher’s job is to teach, not run about behind our children at bus stations.

 

 Sherrylyn Toppin is The Nation’s Online Editor.

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