THE Education Ministry says it will be taking an improved approach to tackling the issue of truancy in schools across the country. During an interview with this newspaper, Education Minister, Priya Manickchand disclosed that, already, there have been discussions on how to enhance the intellectual ability of children by eliminating the negative things that may surround them, through guidance and counselling.
The minister said the major campaigns will be continuous, and the initiative will be carried out on a daily basis, starting with the attendance reports that are submitted to the ministry by the schools.
“I had a meeting with the (Schools’) Welfare Department and we will continue the major truancy campaign. For me, the most important thing is to make sure we are on a truancy watch every single day, in the Ministry of Education centrally as well as in the regions. So we are moving towards having a report,” Minister Manickchand pointed out.
She said that one can tell whether or not a child is suffering any abuse by perusing the records that are made by the schools relative to the child’s attendance and effective functioning in the classroom.
The minister highlighted that strategies have already been, and will continue to be, implemented to ensure that there is a new aspect in dealing with these issues.
“So we are changing the reporting format to make sure that we are aware. The Welfare Department and the Guidance and Counselling Department… In a routine way, when students are absent — for example, students are absent for more than x number of days — we need to be told about that so we could look at it,” she stressed.
The minster said that while she is aware that a similar policy has been implemented under the Education Ministry, some schools have not been complying with this regulation set out.
“It was in place, and I understand that some schools are not doing this (reporting), and this will not be accepted. We have to get those reports, not because we want to give head teachers or the schools’ administrations more work, but because it’s necessary for us to know when students are absent, and for us to inquire why, and how we can fix that,” she added.
The Education Minister told the Guyana Chronicle that truancy campaigns will continue. “But we are going to have more than just the major truancy campaign, and it’s going to be a daily exercise with how we are going to structure the Welfare Department.”
She continued: “What we called mini truancy campaign we are not going to accept. Every morning we are going to be checking the car parks, and we are not going to accept children being on the road during school hours.”
Further, she added that the ministry will be working more in collaboration with the Child Care and Protection Agency. She added that these are some of the changes that the ministry will be working on, to build on the progress that has already been made.
“We want to make sure that at the end of the day our children are receiving an education. A lot of money is being invested into the system, and we want to make sure that beneficiaries are these children, and eventually Guyana could benefit as a whole.”