COVID crunch forces students to ditch school to care for families

Nineteen-year-old Yashieken Campbell decided to forego the last two terms before her graduation at Kellits High School in Clarendon in order to generate income to take care of her young daughter and other family members.

Campbell, who previously attended Ewarton High, got pregnant but continued her secondary-school studies after having her child.

However, economic pressures linked to the COVID-19 pandemic forced Campbell to put her scholastic dreams on pause as she faced a crossroads. She yielded to the call of pragmatism as the challenge of juggling school and financing the care of her child became too burdensome.

“I had to decide what was more important – denying my child the basics and not even having all I need while pursuing my education or generate income to take care of us both. Then, when things settle, I’ll continue my journey,” the teenager said in an interview with The Gleaner.

The dilemma faced by Campbell is not unique in the COVID-19 era, as low-income households have struggled with job tenure and inflationary pressure on the essentials of food and shelter. The shuttering of schools and the islandwide reliance on online classes over 20 months of the coronavirus outbreak have compounded the education crisis, significantly eroding learning outcomes.

After having a family discussion, Campbell said her mother gave her blessing for her to contribute to the household budget.

In January, the 19-year-old quit school and is now a higgler at the Coronation Market in Kingston where she sells vegetables. Finding independence has been gratifying, said Campbell, and she has no regrets about swapping school for the market.

“Well, my contribution in my home is very satisfying because we used to use wood fire and now we are using gas stove. To be honest, I feel so great that I could do this,” she said.

The relative luxury of a gas stove is a metaphor for achievement in many low-income households that unmasks the quality-of-life struggles they endure. Though Jamaica’s poverty rate fell to 11 per cent in 2019 – the lowest in more than a decade and second lowest in 32 years – Campbell and thousands of others live on the margins of society.

NO OTHER CHOICE

Pregnancy is by no means the factor causing many students to drop out of school to find a job.

Tamue Carty, an 18-year-old 11th-grader at Kellits High, says he had no other choice.

Acknowledging that his first love is agriculture and that he preferred to stay in school, Carty has been hired as a sideman on a truck.

He has not written off going back to school – but just not right now.

“Mi madda agree with me that I should get a work,” he said of his job.

Campbell, too, has ambitions of pressing the reset button on education some time in the future.

Principal of Kellits High, Textal Christie, says that he is heartbroken about the drift afflicting his school and others as teenagers abandon the classroom for the workplace.

“It’s really painful what is happening right now with a lot of the students. ... We really would love to get them back into school and to get them engaged in meaningful schoolwork that can help them in their future,” he said.

Christie said the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on the school, not just with students leaving prematurely. Exam performance has also taken a hit, he said.

There was a dramatic difference in Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate outcomes in 2021, compared to scores registered the previous year, with the lowest being in mathematics where passes fell from 60 per cent to 10 per cent.

Marlon Simpson, an associate clinical psychologist, says that many parents had little regard for the value of online school. That makes the graduation to the working world even easier for many households, with little resistance from authority figures in the home.

“Some children leave on their own to provide additional income for the family. However, children thrive on socialisation and social engagements to help them to develop,” said Simpson.

“Hence, missing out on schooling can hamper their development and social growth, aside from academic pursuits.”

cecelia.livingston@gleanerjm.com