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Retired teacher commits to instil positive behaviour

Published:Monday | December 19, 2022 | 12:05 AMChristopher Serju/ - Senior Gleaner Writer
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Hibbert
Nicholas Nunes
Hibbert
From left: Valerie Hibbert hands over a laptop to Anando Richards, fifth form Kingston College student, as Marshilena McDonald, second form student of Holy Childhood High School looks on. Hibbert handed laptops at a parenting workshop at Jones Town Baptist
Nicholas Nunes
From left: Valerie Hibbert hands over a laptop to Anando Richards, fifth form Kingston College student, as Marshilena McDonald, second form student of Holy Childhood High School looks on. Hibbert handed laptops at a parenting workshop at Jones Town Baptist Church in Jones Town.
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Valerie Hibbert was enjoying a well-earned vacation in Louisville, Kentucky when in October she was jolted by the news about the stabbing death of a grade-11 Kingston Technical High School student, Michion Campbell, by another schoolgirl.

“I wept for my country because when I realised that violence is so entrenched in the schools, I said this is not good, so I need to do something,” she shared with The Gleaner.

Hibbert, who was born and raised in Jones Town, St Andrew South, pursued a career in teaching, retiring as vice-principal of Charlie Smith High School, was moved to call up relatives and advise them that she planned to host a parenting seminar. Her relatives came onboard and on Thursday the Hibbert/Williams Foundation hosted the event at the Jones Town Baptist Church after which six laptops were presented to deserving high school and tertiary-level students. Residents were also gifted with clothing and children given toys.

Targeting parents in Jones Town to get them to change the ways in which they interact with and influence their children is critical to getting the desired positive change in behaviour, according to Hibbert. She believes that people like herself who have lived the inner-city life experience and have done well enough to relocate, have an obligation to give back.

“I am very much aware of the things that are happening in this community and I believe that persons who come up through this community and move to other areas should come back and interact with people who can realise that if you can do it, I can do it too. So my presence here is really to motivate the younger ones to aspire,” she stated.

Given her decades of experience in the classroom, Hibbert is convinced that lot of the ills of the society are caused by poor parenting and that if we can change the mindset, then the outcome and outlook of the children will be better.

“Children lives what they learn and learn what they live. Their parents are their first role models and if they are not positively influenced it will affect the wider society,” she said with conviction.

An estimated 80 people, including men and women, new mothers and some senior citizens turn out for Thursday’s parenting seminar, with Hibbert noting that some of them were grandparents who are now caring for their children’s children. The presenters for the event which ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. were two guidance counsellors, a final-year medical student who lives in Jones Town and Hibbert.