ST JAMES, Jamaica – Minister of Education, Senator Ruel Reid says the Ministry of Education is currently working on a programme aimed at identifying and addressing the issue of students not attending school on a regular basis.

Reid said Cabinet has given a framework approval for resources to be deployed for the establishment of truancy officers.

“Cabinet has given a framework approval for resources to be deployed for the establishment of truancy officers. Of course I will have to work to see how we can get some social workers also as part of that. But, even with the extent of the truancy, what they are going to help us to identify are those students who are not attending school and see if we can bring them back into the fold. We can drill on to understand what has happened to them. Are they being abused? What are deficits that they are having?” Reid questioned.

The minister added that students with significant anti-social behaviour in schools have other underlying problems.

Reid pointed out that as a means of getting to the root cause of the problem in order to deal with it, his ministry, as part of the intervention, wants to establish what is called “time out facilities” across each region.

There are six Ministry of Education regions across the Island.

“And, hence, we are prepared as part of the intervention, because ultimately expulsion is permissible under law as set out in the code of regulation. But, we also want to make available what we call ‘time out facilities’ across each region. Because, there will be students from time to time in our schools that require some external intervention to deal with some of those underlying issues. Because, when you see students acting in a particular way, there obviously are issues in their lives,” said Reid.

Senator Reid said during his first term at Jamaica College as principal he was so moved to establish such a programme at the institution which was successful in transforming the school. He was addressing the inaugural conference of the National Association of Deans of Discipline, held at the Sunscape Splash Resort in St James under the theme, ‘Safe school, secure future.’

Anthony Lewis