OPPOSITION leader Bruce Golding is calling for schools to allot a specific time for students to do their homework at the end of classes each day.

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) president noted that students – especially those from inner-city areas – sometimes find it difficult to do schoolwork at home because of poor living conditions, the absence of parental control or the volatility of the community.

“Inner-city kids have a particular challenge that other children may not have. Many of them live in homes that are not conducive to concentrating on their schoolwork,” said Golding, speaking at the opening of a third Kingston Bookshop store on King Street in the capital on Wednesday.

He suggested that schools introduce a system where students are able to remain after school under supervision so that they can do their homework in peace.

“When school is dismissed, the school benches are empty… So they could arrange for a homework session after class,” Golding said. “Give them a chance to tackle the schoolwork in an atmosphere conducive to learning.”

To ease the pressure on teachers, he suggested that volunteers from the National Youth Service (NYS) be recruited to supervise students.

Golding was among a number of people who commended the owners of Kingston Bookshop for keeping its operations downtown at a time when other businesses have opted to relocate.

“So many times businesses, which establish themselves downtown in pursuit of success, uproot themselves (and go) elsewhere. Kingston Bookshop never left downtown, and continues to invest in downtown,” the JLP boss said.

Morin Seymour, executive director of the Kingston Restoration Committee, also lauded Kingston Bookshop for its efforts at uplifting downtown Kingston.

“Any intervention and investment of this sort in the city helps to reposition downtown as the business centre of the city,” he said.

Winston ‘Bunny’ Witter, the People’s National Party (PNP) caretaker for the West Kingston Division, encouraged the private sector and the government to invest in people who live and work downtown in order to facilitate the revitalisation of the area.

But Golding noted that any effort to redevelop downtown would have to address other needs of the area and not just those of the people.

“I don’t think that we have to take that patronising approach.

Redeveloping an urban area that has fallen from the table the way downtown Kingston has is not elementary,” he said.

He urged that in redeveloping the area, care be taken to ensure people are not displaced.

“We have to reintegrate uptown with downtown,” he said.