Community programmes encouraged

Member of Parliament for St. Michael West Central, James Paul is pointing to the role that community based programmes can play in helping to develop positive behaviours in our nation’s youth.

His comments came on Saturday evening at his constituency office, on the sidelines of an event hosted to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the St. Michael West Central Reading School, and to recognise those who contributed to its success. As he spoke of the success of the reading school, which he said has seen scores of children passing through its doors over the last decade, Paul said it is imperative that more programmes, similar to that are established across the length and breadth of Barbados.

He made the point to The Barbados Advocate, while noting that in addition to ensuring that the children who attended the programme developed excellent reading skills, they were also given opportunities to help various other talents to blossom. Reflecting then on the negative behaviours being exhibited by some of the nation’s youth, he reiterated the importance of engaging the youth in positive programmes.

“What we also found through this initiative is that we were able to assist families in the community which were experiencing challenges, providing valuable assistance for those families who otherwise would not have been able to help those children,” he said.

He added, “I want all you parents here to continue to encourage programmes like these. We need to support community people doing these things because it can and does make a difference to your children’s lives. You have to support them because these little children here, who are going to grow up later on, are the potential doctors, lawyers or whoever of our society.”

Additionally, Paul indicated that one of the initiatives he would like to pursue in the future is a reading fair. He suggested that through such he could reach out to even more children, getting the support of wider society, including schools and community groups, working collaboratively to promote reading.

“Reading is key to developing the mind and one’s vocabulary and having good reading skills will not only help to ensure academic success, but a successful life. We must recognise that we have to prepare our young people to really take on the world, Barbados is not the world. Being able to speak to Bajans is not enough, because if the language they speak the world does not understand, they are at a disadvantage,” he said.

Paul added, “If we give them the level of self confidence here in their communities to think ‘I can speak properly, I can express myself properly’, when they go outside of Barbados they have a head start.” (JRT)