By Andrew Smith, Staff Reporter
Editor-in-Chief of The Gleaner, Garfield Grandison (left), Jenni Campbell (second left), managing editor, and Garwin Davis (second right), assistant news editor, walk with Education Minister, Maxine Henry-Wilson, on her arrival for last week's Editors' Forum at the newspaper's North Street offices, Kingston.
MINISTER OF Education, Maxine Henry-Wilson says the Ministry is shaping a policy on the education of children who are wards of the state.
Responding to an issue originally raised by Alison Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of the Child Development Agency, Minister Henry-Wilson admits that in the past there has been no clear policy concerning the education of these children. In fact, she describes their education as being, "honoured more in the breach than in the observance".
In order to comprehensively address the issue of educating state wards, the Minister suggests the segmentation of the children according to their educational needs and circumstances. These groups include: abandoned children, children with disabilities, children in remand, small babies and youth approaching the age of 18 who are required to leave the homes at this age.
Generally, Minister Henry-Wilson wishes, "for children to go out to school if school is available, because we don't want them to see themselves as so different that when they leave they are not socialised; we believe that it is good for them - it's also ensuring that they get all the services that children in the regular school system receive."
PRIME CANDIDATES
Speaking at The Gleaner's Editors' Forum last week, the Minister said that abandoned children who are in state homes are prime candidates for being a part of the regular school system. She says that, "they are not difficult children - they can go out to school." This is confirmed by Miss Fannie Knight, Superintendent and director of the Jamaica Christian Boy's Home. All of the 30 boys at the home attend school.
The boys, aged six to 18, attend schools such as Jamaica College, Kingston College, Holy Trinity Comprehensive and John Mills All-Age School. Money for text books, clothing and other school expenses is obtained by various organisations such as the Friends of the School, Word Time Ministries, and corporate sponsors such as the Jamaica Producers Group, Bank of Nova Scotia and National Commercial Bank.
The Jamaica Christian Boys Home also has a number of disabled children. They attend the School of Hope near Papine. Another child who is "very slow mentally" attends the remedial school on the grounds of the Boy's Home on Oxford Road.
Regarding the current facilities for disabled students, Minister Henry-Wilson says, "My own take on it from seeing just one example is that the facilities are not good - the children are learning but really, we need to do more." She adds that the Ministry will "have to work with the various societies - to see how we can get those children into facilities." She says that there is a possibility that "we may have to create facilities on location - it may be too hard to move them."
