REINTEGRATION Coordinator of the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) on Essequibo Coast, Mr. Sydney Scott has said that despite a vibrant reintegrating process, some 80 per cent of parents do not have a plan for their children after their release from the institution.

In a telephone interview last week, he said he is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that former NOC inmates are properly resettled within their home communities.
Scott said this after care programme, which is funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) through the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, is intended to ascertain how the youths are coping and what goals they have in mind.
It was in 2006 that the Human Services and Social Security Ministry was given a mandate to monitor persons, for two years, on their release from the NOC.
He explained that discussions are held with them about three months prior to their discharge and attempts are made to find out their plans for personal development.
The assignment was a tough one and could not be practically undertaken, but the subject ministry introduced the idea of reintegrating in 2008, and it started in January 2009, with the objective of assisting youngsters, on discharge, to resettle in their home communities.
The strategy requires that a minimum of 40 persons be assisted by the ministry each year and, between 2009 and 2012, about 200 former NOC residents have been helped. Another 200 could get help, but they are reluctant to follow through, Scott said.
According to him, his duties also entail gaining knowledge of what parents might have in store for their children after their release, although this is not always possible.
Further engagement
Upon their being released, parents go to collect them at the ministry and, sadly, 80 per cent of the adults do not have anything planned, and so a further engagement is required to see how best the NOC can assist, he reported.
Scott said some of the children request assistance to get back into the school system, while others ask for tools and equipment to establish businesses based on the skills acquired at the NOC.
He said, as part of the after NOC process, the ministry provides the necessary guidance to prospective entrepreneurs about the best ways to make money and invest it.
Those students who express a desire to join the workforce secure jobs with the help of the Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA) and, for those wanting to return to school, the NOC organises with the Education Ministry which provides for them to be outfitted for that.
Scott said some females prefer to venture into entrepreneurial activities, such as craft or catering, and consequently, the NOC acquires what is necessary and does a formal handing over.
He said, for those wishing to join a club, the UNICEF-funded programme allows him to make checks in the community for social groups.
Scott said there are persons who may be undecided, and because of that, the ministry facilitates them with further skills training at the Kuru Kuru College.
“Once we see they are making progress and willing to learn, we would encourage them in the area where they are showing the most growth,” he added.
The official remarked that the world requires that each person is equipped with a level of computer skills and inmates are taught the basics.
He said, “We have held two seminars per year, one of which the parents are taken to NOC to interact with their children. We facilitate them with travelling allowance and explain the integration process and ask them to begin thinking about what their kids should do upon discharge.”
One experience
Alluding to one experience, Scott said there was a 16-year-old who indicated that he wanted to undertake computer classes upon his discharge.
However, when he was issued with the application form, it was discovered that he could not read and attempts to have his mother complete the procedure revealed that she also could not.
With a new housing development, many of the children’s parents are allocated house lots and are relocating. In addition to this, the ongoing gold rush has lured both males and females towards the interior regions.
Meantime, some of the children drop out of the schools where they were placed and are hard to trace, he disclosed.
Scott said the 2012 fire at the NOC set back his programme because some of the youngsters were not interviewed about their ambitions and aspirations.
He said several of them may not be as receptive as others to the discipline of warning, counselling and isolation as measures of correction now being utilised as against the traditional militaristic methods.
Scott acknowledged that rigid physical activity and interactive games are among the activities which can aid in instilling and maintaining discipline.
Meanwhile, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony said, if students would like to be employed upon leaving the institution, the NOC works with them through that scheme, noting that anyone one who leaves would get money for a start in the direction of education or to acquire the tools necessary for a job, mostly through UNICEF funding.