Senior Reporter
anna-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt
The National Parent Teachers Association (NPTA) has joined hands with the T&T Police Service (TTPS) in a renewed effort to tackle the root causes of crime and hopefully reduce the lure it has on the youth population.
Speaking with Guardian Media after an almost two-hour meeting with Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher and head of the Community Policing Unit, Supt Ian Carthy, at the Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, NPTA president Walter Stewart said he did not believe it was too late to save the youth before they became involved in a life of crime.
But he admitted it had to start with parents at home.
“It is not too late at all, but the work is now more difficult to be able to reach them at this point in time,” Stewart said.
Stewart, along with executive members Zena Ramatali (first vice president), Janna Thomas (PRO) and Persie Smith (acting president Port-of-Spain and Environs Region), met with National Security Ministers Fitzgerald Hinds and Keith Scotland on the issue.
Declaring both meetings successful, Stewart said they centered around how best the NPTA could partner with the TTPS in light of the escalating crime situation in T&T.
Referring to the Parenting Programme, which is one of the NPTA’s initiatives, he explained, “We realise that the core, the foundation of the criminal activity taking place in T&T, is really because of poor parenting.
“If we are really able to institute a proper parenting programme so that our parents would know how to better parent their children, it is certainly going to help to mitigate what is taking place with escalating crime throughout our nation.”
The NPTA head said they had also looked at greater engagement between parents and the Community Police.
Hoping to take this expanded model nationwide, Stewart said along with town hall meetings and community walkabouts, “it is going to show a greater force.”
Yesterday’s meetings were scheduled following concerns raised by the NPTA over the weekend about crime and school indiscipline generally.
Asked if talks had included what was being done to address truant children and errant parents, as was announced several weeks ago during a media conference at the Ministry of National Security, Stewart said there were still no statutes on the law books to address this.
He said, however, “The commissioner did indicate that they are working on such so that there can be laws implemented in order to address those situations in our country.”
Asked what needed to be done by parents to get youths to stay away from a life of crime, Stewart said, “We need to inculcate moral and spiritual values from the cradle of our children’s lives, so that if they grow up with those kinds of moral and spiritual values from the cradle, from birth, it will be difficult really. The Bible says train up a child in the way that he should grow and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
“So if we inculcate those values into our children from the very early stages, it will be difficult, almost impossible to be involved in criminal activity later in your life.”
The NPTA has to submit a report to Harewood-Christopher by Tuesday outlining the takeaways from yesterday’s meeting, as well as indicating how the joint recommendations would be implemented.
Stewart is hoping to approach parents with a definitive plan within one month, following which it can be operationalised in the coming weeks and months via district PTA groups.