– 14-yr-old found at ‘work place’
A 14-year-old boy who quit school to maintain his single mother and three siblings was picked up yesterday at his workplace at Rosignol, West Berbice and given a letter to be readmitted to school.
The boy was among 25 children who were not in school between 9 am and 2 pm when the Department of Education held its annual Operation Care (formerly truancy) Campaign.
Senior Schools’ Welfare Officer, Gillian Vyphuis, told the child to start attending school again from today, but his 28-year-old mother begged for him to “work out this week so he can collect his pay…”
The boy told Vyphuis that he would use the earnings to purchase items to start school from Monday. But his mother was concerned that the money would not be enough.
Vyphuis, two colleagues and a police officer, made a sweep in other sections of West Berbice.
Five other boys were found catching crabs in a trench at Ithaca. Three of the boys ran away, while the other two related that their parents had no “passage” to give them so they could not go to school.
Asked whether they would sell the crabs to get money to go to school, the boys responded “no we catching them to cook.”
Some of the other children were either running errands or just ‘liming’ on the streets. A few managed to escape after they realized what was taking place.
As the children were rounded up, a few parents made excuses that they had not sent them to school because they were “sick.” The officers responded that they should have been in bed. One parent made a flimsy excuse that her son could not go to school because his “belt head” was broken.
The children were taken to the Rosignol Primary School and their parents later followed to sign and take them home, but not before receiving a stern warning from Vyphuis to ensure that they attended school.
She told the parents that according to Section 39:01 of the Education Act, they have to ensure that their children are educated and that they attend school regularly.
She said the department would be checking the school records to verify that the parents were complying and if not they could be charged and placed before the courts.
The campaign coincides with Education Month and Vyphuis said that certificates would be presented to students who scored 100% attendance.
She said the “thumb printing trend must be broken; children must at least learn how to sign their names. Not because you may not have an education you must deny your child one…”
A few of the parents said they kept their children at home because they are “not learning anything” or they could not afford to send them. But Vyphuis said that the schools also offered skills training.
One man said he was taking care of a boy who had left the government school to attend a private school, but he could no longer afford the fees. He made a request for the child to be readmitted at the government school and was issued a letter.
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