The Ministry of Education’s Welfare Department this morning clamped down on over 200 children who were caught loitering at bus parks in the city.
Gillian Vyphius, a Welfare officer at the Ministry of Education told this publication, that the Ministry came to the consensus to carry out a truancy campaign that will help to put a stop to the situation.
“Well, this morning we had a truancy campaign because we found that most morning children are going to school late. The welfare department Is really in charge of punctuality so we are out here to ensure that children get to school on time,” she said.
She said the aim is to get the students to school and in a timely manner.
“What we did this morning was to rounds up children who were loitering, children who were actually late and stepping. We round them up and ensure that they enter a bus to go to school.”
“The loitering is a norm and based on feedback that we get from members of the community, we find that some children need to stay back late, that they are not interested. We are here to see that they go to school.”
“What I would like to encourage parents is to encourage students to attended school every day and on time because education is the key to success. Without education you cannot move forward in life,” she expressed.
Meanwhile, Vyphius said that if a child is found being late every day or very often in a week, then the MOE will take necessary actions to deal with the situation.
“If we find that a specific child is being late on a daily basis, we will try to get that child to the nearest school to which they are living. We find that they are children living on the West Coast and they are coming to school in Georgetown so we are going to look into it and transfer them to the nearest school that they can reach to school on time,” the officer said.
