Students urged not to destroy school property
As students get set to return to the classroom next week, an appeal is going out to them not to deface or damage their school property.
Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ronald Jones made the call at a recent press conference, where he noted that while the problem is not widespread and they have not put an exact cost on the damage done to the various school plants, his Ministry and by extension taxpayers are having to shell out thousands of dollars for repairs to, or replacement of items. His comments came as he referred to the Ministry’s summer maintenance programme, which he said cost some $1.8 million this year.
“Taxpayers’ money is at a premium, students who deface, who damage, you know that is going to call for money…I think the Ministry of Education has the largest number of plants to deal with in the country, outside of general government buildings, and they are used heavily so we have to keep them functioning, but that calls for money,” he said.
Jones noted that while the Education Act contains penalties for students who are caught damaging or found out to have damaged property, the challenge in punishing such persons comes in actually finding the culprits. He made the point as he explained that students are not inclined to “rat on each other”.
“We have to continue to use persuasion, have to continue to talk to parents wherever you can find them so they can impress on their children if you jump kick, literally jump kick those louvre windows you find in many of the schools, then they will become broken and damaged and to replace many of those would run in thousands of dollars, that has nothing to do with the cost of the labour. And in some of our schools, particularly secondary schools, we have seen that behaviour manifested,” he said.
In addition to windows being bent or broken, he said doors have been damaged or removed and even sinks and toilets have been broken and he said it clear that the damage was inflicted by a person.
“I can tell you that generally when you look and see the amount of money that would be spent in a year and you look at a window, it isn’t heat, storm, hail or boulders being blown that would take the window and bend every louvre, it has to be a human being,” Jones stated.
The Education Minister added, “Some children seem to have moments or spurts of energy where they damage or deface part of the plant… and I am not condemning, I know how some young people can behave, but we have to impress upon them that in a situation where their parents, once we find the children, their parents have to pay, that they might then find that there is something they may need within the domestic environment that they would have to go without. But it is a constant message that one has to bring to the wider society, to the wider family units, that everything costs money, everything in education costs money, everything in our homes cost money; there are no gifts, no free lunches.”
Admittedly, Minister Jones said all the damage is not by the hands of students, as they are aware that persons from the surrounding communities who utilise the facilities at various schools are also guilty and “don’t exercise the due care and attention” that they should. He made the point as he noted that the fences erected around schools are prone to be cut by persons seeking a direct path onto the property. (JRT)