GEORGETOWN Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan has been monitoring the activities on the Stabroek Market Square on a daily basis and has found that an alarming number of school children gather on the bus park to wait for special buses.

What is more alarming is that they can be found there even during school hours.

“I have been listening to people in that area and there is cause for concern in the general day-to-day happenings there. At about 09: 40 hrs one morning, I observed more than 100 school children on the road there,” he related.

Duncan was addressing Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and other senior officers at a meeting recently.

According to him, nearly all of the Kitty buses were empty as the students stood there to wait for their special buses.

The Deputy Mayor then pondered what the City Council could possibly do about this situation, but found that there was nothing specific.

He subsequently visited the Ministry of Education on the issue and learned that five welfare officers are assigned to about 95 schools in Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica). Of the five officers, two are on health-related leave, and one has been moved to another region.

“So we have two persons serving schools and to go out into the streets and deal with this kind of truancy matter,” Duncan pointed out.

“As the national Capital City, we cannot allow our school children to use our streets in this manner; to be on the road during school hours. I inquired from the Ministry if it was an exam morning but it seems like it is just a regular feature and I think we have to work hand-in-hand with the Ministry and the relevant agencies. These are our children and we have to play some role in curbing this kind of truancy. I think it is overbearing. We have to intervene,” he said.