The Region 6 Education Department recent truancy campaign in Upper Corentyne netted some 75 truants which is indeed a high figure and if this is a reflection of the problem across the country then the situation is a serious one and warrants urgent attention.

The exercise was a laudable one and the disclosure by the Senior Schools Welfare Officer, Jainarine Singh that it was meant as a warning is indeed comforting because truancy is not a straight jacket problem but rather a complex sociological one which needs careful, delicate and creative methods to deal with it.

However, truancy if it is not curbed could have debilitating long term effects on society because it is a fertile breeding ground for leading children and youths astray and into anti-social activities such as crime, use and trafficking of illegal drugs, prostitution etc. and thereby destroying their future which in turn would have severe adverse impacts on society.

According to the American manual on this issue “truancy is the first sign of trouble; the first indicator that a young person is giving up and losing his or her way. When young people start skipping school, they are telling their parents, school officials and the community at large that they are in trouble and need our help if they are to keep moving forward in life.”

It adds: “Research data tells us that students who become truant and eventually drop out of school put themselves at a long term disadvantage in becoming productive citizens. High school dropouts, for example, are two and a half times more likely to be on welfare than high school graduates. In 1995, high school dropouts were almost twice as likely to be unemployed as high school graduates. In addition, high school dropouts who are employed earn much lower salaries. Students who become truant and eventually drop out of high school too often set themselves up for a life of struggle.”

“Truancy is a gateway to crime. High rates of truancy are linked to high daytime burglary rates and high vandalism. According to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, truancy is the most powerful predictor of juvenile delinquent behavior. “I’ve never seen a gang member who wasn’t a truant first,” says California District Attorney Kim Menninger. Truancy prevention efforts should be a part of any community policing effort to prevent crime before it happens,” the manual disclosed.

Here in Guyana, the Education Ministry has embarked on a programme to curb truancy, but it has been constrained by a lack of human resources. Nevertheless it has been doing a fairly good job in the circumstances. Perhaps, the route to take in order to make the programme more effective is one which involves other ministries, agencies and NGOs.

This kind of collaboration may help to overcome the lack of human resources and should bring in new and varied ideas and perspectives on how to tackle this complex societal problem which apparently is on the rise.

The manual correctly asserts that each community needs to determine how it will reduce and deter truancy. Below are descriptions of truancy programs being used in communities around the country which employ some or all of the elements described above.

Parents, police, and the school system focus on the causes of truancy in the Truancy Abatement and Burglary Suppression (TABS) initiative in Milwaukee. Attendance is taken every period in all high schools. Local police officers pi ck up truant students and bring them to a Boys and Girls Club for counseling. Parents are called at home automatically every night if their child did not attend school that day. If the parent is not supportive of regular school attendance, then the district attorney is contacted.

It was found in a recent sample of students who went through the TABS process, 73 percent returned to school the next day, 66 percent remained in school on the 15th day, and 64 percent still are in school 30 days later. Since the TABS initiative began, daytime burglary in Milwaukee has decreased 33 percent, and daytime aggravated battery has decreased 29 percent. Aquine Jackson, Director of the Parent and Student Services Division of the Milwaukee Public Schools, says, “I think the TABS program is so effective because it is a collaboration among…the Milwaukee Public Schools, the Milwaukee Boys and Girls Clubs, the Milwaukee Police Department, and the County Sheriff, and because it is now a part of state statute that police officers can stop students on the street during school hours.”

From the above it is evident that there is a correlation between crime and truancy and in Guyana’s context this is extremely important as we try desperately to curb the crime rate which has been of great concern in recent years.

Maybe a study on truancy should be commissioned to determine the underlying causes of it in our society so that a comprehensive long term solution could be fashioned.

Solving the truancy problem is crucial as the foundation of our future as a nation lies in our children and as such we have to protect them from the evils of society and nurture them with the correct attitudes, morality and education.