Education Ministry to reintroduce truancy officer programme in schools

Minister of Education Senator Ruel Reid has indicated that his Ministry will be working with the police to re-introduce the truancy officer programme in schools.

This, Reid said, is to ensure that all children are accounted for at all times, which will lessen the likelihood of them being recruited by gangs or become involved in criminal activities.

“No child should be left behind because if we fail to do that, all we are doing is leaving them to be taken over by the gangsters,” he said.

Addressing the first in a series of anti-gang workshops at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston on Friday, May 18, the education minister said the programme “is something that we have to put back in place” to ensure that once students are at the age for school, they must be attending school regularly.

He stressed that students found to be out of school must be able to account for why they are not attending school regularly.

In the meantime, Reid noted that the education system must be the avenue through which troubled youth can lead a more purposeful life and transition out of a life of crime.

“We are saying that those who themselves are involved in organised crime, there is now an opportunity for you to come out, be trained, be skilled, be empowered, put down the guns, put down the crime, and let Jamaica be a crime free country,” he stressed.

For his part, Acting Commander of the Counter Terrorism and Organized Crime Branch Superintendent of Police Anthony McLaughlin said the police are serious about dismantling gangs and welcomes working with the Education Ministry to achieve this feat.

Noting that there are over 250 active gangs, which account for between 60 to 70 per cent of homicides yearly, SSP McLaughlin said he was pleased that workshop participants will be given the tools and knowledge to help steer students away from gangs and gang activities.

The six anti-gang workshops are being staged by the Safety and Security Unit of the Education Ministry.

They are geared towards providing school personnel with the necessary skills to reduce the vulnerability of stakeholders to a range of potential threats.

One key issue the workshops will address is the formation of gangs and the effect on home, school, the community and by extension Jamaica.

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