Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says that the parenting of yesteryear is no longer sufficient to properly raise children and noted that government and society can begin using school facilities to make interventions.
He added that crime and the glorification of violence in art forms that young people are exposed to were part of discussions at the recently concluded CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting.
At a media briefing on Wednesday afternoon on his return from the meeting in Guyana, the PM assured that several initiatives will be coming very soon which might be able to involve and protect T&T’s children.
Rowley said one of the things that was discussed at the Caricom meeting was the kind of indoctrination from the art form young people are exposed to, where violence is encouraged and glorified.
He said the trauma faced when people lose loved ones and see the outcomes of violent crime was raised, including by St Kitts Prime Minister Dr Terrence Drew, who noted the domestic violence children are exposed to in the home. Rowley said Drew spoke about children being damaged after experiencing violence in the home or the fact that being brought up without any semblance of training or values is becoming more plentiful in our societies.
He said the government has been asked to consider establishing some kind of commission where families can get help and become more effective in raising children.
“Because what we’re taking for granted is no longer there. In an earlier time, the parenting of children by parents, grandparents, society and the village was sufficient to bring them up with a certain amount of perspective. That’s no longer assumed to be there,” Rowley said.
“Therefore, a wider, larger effort is to be required because the bringing up of our children is a requirement if we’re to overcome this period of violence and violent crime that traumatises us daily.”
One of the ways to do that, Rowley said, involves the use of school premises. Noting that several schools in T&T are locked from after 3 pm until the next day, he said: “The society can begin to make use of these premises, involving teachers, parent–teachers, communities and volunteers with significant Government support to bring about the kind of dialogue, engagement and contact hours with youths and older people, with professional and non-professionals, to create a society where the concerns about crime is not just a handful of politicians trying to make politics out of it but a society that’s trying to save itself.”