Dear Editor,
As the people of Guyana grapple to cope with the recent killings at Lusignan and Bartica and the continued rise in crime we need to pause and reflect on the many causes of these actions by criminals. I firmly believe that the government and the political opposition need to sit down like mature adults and find ways to end these killings.
I wish to point out two major causes for the crime situation and to offer a few solutions.
First of all, if we closely examine the ages of most of these new criminals we would find that they are mere children, ages 16, 17 and 18 and this in itself tells me something about our educational system. That system has failed our young people, not only the system itself but also the educators who have failed to put their all into moulding our children. Gone are the days when teachers visited homes to enquire from parents about their children’s behaviour at home and to find out why this or that child is not in school or even to chat with parents about the student’s behaviour in school.
I’ve seen children’s behaviour patterns change after a home visit. Children who misbehave or are uncooperative would change their attitude after a home visit from a teacher. I know today our teachers are busy getting themselves qualified so that they can offer their services on the other side of the Atlantic but I wish to urge them to put in a little extra into moulding our children into law abiding citizens.
The lack of employment in the public and private sectors is having a great impact. Many of our young people have turned to a life of crime, from petty crimes to taking up arms and drug smuggling. It is no use saying that people turn criminals because they want to be criminals; it is always something that causes peoples to turn to a life of crime. We as a nation need to find these causes and deal with them urgently.
The community of Buxton needs special attention, not in a negative way but in a positive way. Interest must be shown in the educational sector of the community, if the schools are overcrowded additional schools need to be built, vocational centres need to be built to offer training to those young people who are not academically inclined, so that they won’t be left behind.
Funds need to be provided to provide skills to residents in order for them to find a job. Agriculture has always been a part of the life of the community. every effort must be made to encourage people to stay with farming while opening up more land for the expansion of farming in the area. Funds need to be made available to the NDC in Buxton in order for them to carry out social programmes that would be of benefit to the community.
Even as we seek to help the community of Buxton we need to take a closer look at other communities that may be in need to help to tackle the problems of drug abuse and unemployment among the young.
Over the past few years many calls have been made for the return of National Service. People believe that National Service would help our youths to carve a good future for themselves while keeping them active and out of trouble, I believe that an investment in National Service would be money will spent.
Yours faithfully,
Clive Fredericks
