There are many contributing factors which are responsible for the high rates of high school dropouts and teenage pregnancy occurring in Mabaruma with the number one cause being “parental neglect” says Region One’s Chairman Brentnol Ashley.
He told Inews that in his Region throughout various communities there are alarmingly high records of high school dropouts and teenage pregnancies when compared to other parts of the country.
This is because many parents are hardly ever at home to properly guide their children, the Regional Chairman noted.
According to Ashley, the lack of job opportunities in Region One especially in Mabaruma is a major factor in the absence of parents in the lives of their children.
“We are all aware that the economy of our country is currently dwindling in some sense. And when it comes to village economies it is no different so one when parents cannot get jobs surrounding they have to go elsewhere. Often that will cause them to leave their children unattended,” he pointed out.
Yet another contributing factor to the high levels of teenage pregnancy cases in that region is attributed to the youths and young people not being educated.
“The lack of education is another cause since many of them (young people) would not have reached far in school and these kinds of things…but we are working towards coming up with an action plan to see how we can deal with the issues that have occurred… in our budget we will cater for it especially under our health and education programmes,” the Regional Chairman stated.
Region One plagued with teenage pregnancies, school drop-outs
PNC said they will fix all these problems while on the campaign trail.
PNC told the Guyanese people that it’s because of PPP ignorance all these social ills are taking place..
But what Guyanese know is that PNC full of sh*t.
PNC done everything possible they could and never one day get together with PPP to work on these social ills.
PNC was trying to gain political miles and nothing more to PNC.
Look what PNC did to the people of Georgetown, had them living in filth just to lay blame on PPP to score political miles. The tip off is look what PNC people are now doing to clean their own Georgetown stench.
PNC never worked one day with PPP to curtail crime.
Remember it was only PNC ministers who could enter Buxton during the crime spree??
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Educational and Medical programs are a good start but in a vacuum they won’t break the endless cycle of poverty and its trappings of teenage pregnancy and crime. More important are having better role models for these youths, and with whom open dialogue due to genuine respect and concerns can flourish, thus leading to better life choices.
Parents, upstanding family members and proactive teachers can intervene positively to influence these youths so what incentives are in the budget for these overworked, underpaid, overlooked and under utilized human resources for them to stop thinking about their own daily survival and focus on the welfare of our minors. To break the cycle we need to invest in a comprehensive approach, otherwise we will be here next year and years after wondering why the status quo prevails.
The problems we can identify, the the symptoms are evident, however the root cause(s) needs some brainstorming, and I am beginning to question the vision, conviction and fortitude of some in leadership. If we are going to change the course for our youths, let’s focus all our efforts on identifying, understanding and removing the root cause of their problems. Anything short of that is a waste of scarce public resources and valuable time.