JULIET Small’s 14-year-old son was expelled from a Kingston high school last year because he was discovered smoking marijuana on the premises.

Since then, she tried getting him into four separate high schools, all of which turned her down when she told them the truth about his expulsion.

One of them wasted no time telling her ‘no way!’

“They said they were trying to rid the system of these students,” she said.

Not knowing what else to do, Small heeded his last school’s advice to get him into the three-week resocialisation programme of the National Youth Service (NYS). Success Camp was her last hope.

Joan Beckford, another parent, faced a similar crisis with her 16-year-old son.

“I cried at first when I heard that he was going to a camp because of his behaviour,” she said in an interview during orientation at Fellowship Tabernacle in July.

“I said ‘behaviour!’ I never did those things in school. My mother would kill me, and she was a single parent.”

Their two stories mirrored the experiences of many of the parents of over 250 teenagers at the pre-camp orientation exercise in July, where they were guided about what to wear and carry, aspects of the curriculum and the rules.

The two camps, held at Holmwood Technical and Oberlin High School in July and August, were funded jointly by the NYS and several private sector companies at a cost of close to $9 million.

Each camp provided a rigorous routine of daily exercise, remedial classes and motivational therapy.

Organisers of the programme know that the 300 students were just a small fraction of the number of Jamaican ‘at risk’ children whose families and the education ministry are struggling to find a solution to bring them back from the brink.

State minister in the education ministry Dr Donald Rhodd estimates that thousands of school age children are presently outside the education system, for various reasons.

Past estimates put the number expelled each year at over 200.

Around the beginning of summer this year, administrators at 11 high schools indicated they had students they wanted in Camp Success, including Camperdown High, Donald Quarrie High, Denham Town High, Holy Trinity High, Kingston College, Queens High, Jamaica College, Papine High, Trench Town High, Vauxhall High and Excelsior High.

The number grew to roughly 16 by the start of the first camp.

Mona High joined the lot, sending as many as 30 students, some of them on the verge of expulsion.

Their guidance counsellor, Sadie Wisdom, said they manifested behaviour problems, which included rebellion to authority, defiance, frequent non attendance, non-performance, disruptive and violent behaviour.

“There was one who was interviewed by the board but they have not given him the final word about whether or not he will be excluded (expelled) from Mona. After he goes through the programme one of the other schools will take him because they feel going through a programme like this, coupled with the change of environment can make a big difference,” Wisdom said.

Initially, the students greeted the camp with tolerant acceptance.

“I didn’t want to come,” said Jody-Ann, 14. “But my mother say if I don’t come I won’t go to school in September.”

Sixteen-year old ‘Pops’ as he is nicknamed, complained about the rules, stating that his father is Rastafarian and he is not allowed to cut his hair. “Him never know trimming will be in it, and next thing is me don’t wear black shoes and is only vegetarian food me eat,” said ‘Pops’.

Anif, 15, had a different attitude. He wanted to control his temper. “I want to go to get changed .to change my ways, like my bad behaviour,” he said.

He explained that he fights frequently in and out the classroom. What may have finally landed him at Camp Success was a recent altercation with a girl his age who ‘draped’ him and threw him against the wall. He retaliated by hitting her hard with a chair.

Although the programme went smoothly, Camp Success supervisor Marsha Anderson said there were times when students, particularly from schools that had a large contingent, formed cliques.

“Because they knew each other from before, they would band together and if they meet up with others they disagree with they would conspire,” said Anderson.

But it was nothing they weren’t prepared for or couldn’t handle.

“We regrouped and placed them in different activity groups and that helped.”

She said there were periods of friction, resulting sometimes from the ‘toothpasting’ or ‘shoe polishing’ of someone’s face. But that activity was soon stopped by staff who were placed on a 24-hour watch.

Girls were separated from boys and alert staff ensured there was no fraternising that went beyond friendship between the two genders.

The programme consisted of two parts:

. a behaviour modification curriculum that dealt with punctuality, personal development, anger management, conflict resolution leadership and the social graces; and

. academic tutorials to improve literacy and numeracy skills.

The campers’ day started at 4:30 am with half-an-hour exercise, breakfast and devotions, and ended with a study hour between 7:30 and 8:30 pm, intended to actually reinforce the need to set aside time for study.

Of course, there were the times of leisure at nights when the campers planned and participated in plays, pageants, spelling competitions, concerts and even a banquet.

Anderson said a follow-up programme will take place over the next 12 months, where each participant will be assigned a mentor to participate together in workshops at least once per month.

There will be an evaluation exercise to document their progress.