MenTOUR: Daniel Long struggles to stay online

While at the MenTOUR session held under the theme: ‘Staying focused in challenging times,’ one young man stood out from the group, with his focused demeanour.

As I finished my presentation to the upper-school students, a school administrator pulled me to the side and revealed, “You see that young man with the green knapsack, his name is Daniel Long*, he is one of our most promising students.”

Knowing I was in one of the more volatile inner-city areas, I was happy to hear the news, only to find out, in the following sentence, that he has been absent for most of the academic year.

“He is one of our brighter students and was recommended to sit six subjects. However, since March of 2020, he has had a 30 per cent attendance record. We had to try our best to get him out for the session today,” revealed the administrator.

With a stoic and calm appearance, it was evident he was not a troublemaker and was keen on the use of the prefix ‘sir’ before responding to any question. The first thing I asked him was the obvious question, “How come you have been so absent from school?”

To which he responded, “Sir, since this COVID ting start, my father lose his job and he was the one who bring in the money. So things got really sticky fast.”

A determined and dedicated student, Long took his work ethics to the streets of his community and started looking for work. “Because the funds low in the house, a lot of arguments start and more time the bills can’t get paid, plus there is no food in the house. So I started walking around looking for work.”

Prior to this, Long was on a path to academic success, as all his teachers spoke highly of him. “He is a very quiet student, sometimes he is in class not saying anything, but when you check his book, he is taking a lot of notes,” disclosed a female teacher.

Financial constraints have been a major contributing factor for young men turning to a life of crime, as a means to access money. “The situation on the ground is very frightening. We have way too many youngsters not finishing secondary school and being lured into gangs,” said Damion Hutchinson, executive director of the Peace Management Initiative.

The socio-economic realities provide very little options for these young men, who are undereducated and unskilled, to get meaningful jobs. According to the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Statistics and Information Management Unit, 117 teens, between 13 and 19, were arrested for robbery in 2019.

During the initial phase of the pandemic, Long started looking for jobs to no avail, until he met a lady who was running a shop. “I asked her if there is anything I could do to help around the place, so she gave me a broom and told me to sweep the place in the evening. So I made sure the yard was always clean.”

He received a meagre stipend for his job, and was grateful, as it kept him occupied during the days. “Where I come from, it’s easy for teens like myself to fall into badness because it’s everywhere around you. Getting a gun is not harder than getting a knife.”

In a 2018 Gleaner article, Assistant Commissioner of Police Elan Powell discovered what he termed as “a worrying trend”. In that year, four 15-year-old boys, three 16-year-olds, and 14 boys who were 17 years old were arrested and 81 teenagers were killed.

Long stated that he did not deliberately avoid attending online classes, as his economic needs were of greater importance. “The little money I earn is used to put food on the table, which is more important than putting on data or buying a tablet.”

Despite missing so many classes, he still intends to sit his exams, as he remains optimistic about his academic future. “My teachers believe in me and, up to fourth form I was doing really good, so I’m going to give it my best shot,” affirmed Long.

MenTOUR sessions are aimed at encouraging and motivating at-risk male teens to stay on a constructive path. The Youthlink-endorsed initiative is held at high schools islandwide both virtually and in person, and is sponsored by Foska Oats, and Betting, Gaming and Lottery Commission.

*Name changed to protect identity.