Calabar bad boy now peace ambassador
SANTIAGO, CHILE:
TATE MINISTER in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information Floyd Green is appealing to discouraged teachers not to throw in the towel, as children with maladaptive behaviour who make the classroom a difficult place for teaching and learning are a priority for his ministry.
“I would encourage them to not give up on these children,” Green told The Sunday Gleaner on the margins of the first regional dialogue in Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Santiago, Chile, last week.
“We have seen the problem, and not only have we seen the problem, we are taking steps to treat with it,” added Green.
He said the ministry has already introduced targeted interventions to assist troubled youths and there are more programmes which will be rolled out gradually.
SSince September, two time out centres have been established to help with reforming boys, and plans are being made to transform 11 youth clubs across the country into time out facilities. A review of the programme will be done after the first year.
“Students have already started to go and maybe it is still too early to say the impact, but the preliminary reviews have been good,” said Green, as he responded to a Sunday Gleaner story about a teacher who experiences anxiety whenever she steps into the classroom because the students are becoming increasingly uncontrollable.
According to the teacher, several of her colleagues have left the profession because they were unable to deal with the unruly students.
But Green said help is on its way for these teachers. He added that the ministry has attached more social workers to each region this year and more psychosocial interventions were introduced, including behavioural modification camps.
“For our children who are involved in violence at various levels, the steps that we have made earlier this year with a Child Diversion Bill will help us to focus on the rehabilitation of them as early as possible,” Green added, as he underscored the ministry’s position that corporal punishment is not an answer for unruly children.
“Corporal punishment is not effective at reforming behaviour, neither do suspensions that do not have a behaviour modification component,” said Green. SANTIAGO, Chile:
AFTER BEING suspended from Calabar High School a number of times, Cameron Campbell was finally expelled while he was in the fourth form and seemed headed down a dangerous path.
But the intervention of the Peace Management Initiative (PMI) has seen him turn his life around and he now works to prevent other youths from making his mistakes.
“I got more than three suspensions from school because I had problems, but I didn’t try to seek help or try to like talk to somebody about it,” said the 17-year-old Twickenham Park, St Catherine, resident who is now a peace ambassador in his community.
“The community is practically divided because of violence, but we are trying to bring back everyone together,” said Campbell, as he pointed to sports as one of the vehicles they are using to ensure peace in the area.
Campbell also advocates for the rights of children and was among several youth advocates from Latin America and Caribbean countries in Santiago, Chile, last week to participate in discussions about the Convention on the Rights of the Child which was launched by UNICEF in the region 30 years ago.
It was his first time leaving Jamaica, and he hopes his contribution helped in some way to further advance the causes of boys, girls and adolescents.
As someone who was kicked out of Calabar, Campbell paid keen attention to the public discussions in September over the school’s decision not to readmit several boys who had failed to meet its standards in behaviour or academics.
He was against the decision, which the school later reversed for the most part.
“They wouldn’t have anywhere else to go if they are kicked out of school. They are going to resort to violence,” argued Campbell, who is now studying general construction at the HEART College of Construction Services.
He has his heart set on helping to develop Jamaica’s infrastructure, particularly in rural areas.
“No matter what situation you are in, you can get out. All you have to do is to persevere and be confident in yourself, because if you are not confident in yourself, then nobody else will be,” Campbell advised youths.