System to track students’ poor attendance to come on stream – Baksh

The Education Ministry will be better able to track students with poor attendance when a computerised programme on students’ records comes on stream.

Education Minister Shaik Baksh was quoted in a statement from the ministry as saying that the system which is being developed will enable schools’ welfare officers to identify these frequently absent students and intervene early to remedy the problem.

In the meantime, he said, schools’ welfare officers will be visiting the homes of students “at risk of dropping out of school” and the notable “bad behaving ones”, to counsel and guide them to overcome their challenges during the August holidays.

Those in difficult circumstances will be advised of how they can access support from the Human Services and Social Security Ministry, but Baksh said that he is looking at the establishment of a fund which will be under the purview of the Schools’ Welfare Department.

The fund, he said, will go towards assisting poor families to ensure that their children attend school and receive a sound education. The Education Ministry, Baksh said, is ever mindful of the consequences of truancy, and has thus taken a tougher stance on parents who do not send their children to school. These parents are now being prosecuted. Since the campaign was intensified last year, 49 parents have been placed before the courts and Baksh promised not to “let up” on negligent parents.

The number of school drop-outs at the secondary level has also been a challenge, but significant attention is being placed on the Secondary Competency Certificate Programme (SCCP) to address this problem. The SCCP, which has been having a positive impact in keeping students in school, offers an alternative pathway for students. It is being taught at 24 secondary schools and six practical instructional centres. This programme was recently introduced in Grade Nine with the aim of ensuring that students who leave school before completing the secondary cycle are equipped with a certificate which will make them employable. Students who successfully completed the Grade Nine programme can move to a more advance level in Grade 10 and eventually write the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination and pursue higher studies.

Also, a programme to reintegrate teenage mothers in school has been launched, and a number of teenage mothers have been able to continue their education in the public school system. The government also has implemented a Gy$1 billion National School Feeding Programme, benefit- ing more than 51,000 learners at the nursery and primary levels. More recently, the state announced the roll-out of a Gy$300 million School Uniform Programme this month-end. These initiatives are geared to enhance students’ attendance and performance in school.