THE ZR CULTURE came in for a severe rap by a Government senator yesterday because of its negative impact on young people.
Former secondary school principal Alwyn Adams said the behaviour engendered by this culture was “one of the major social concerns in post-Independence Barbados” that had reached “cultural proportions and is now embedded in the psyche of young people”.
He pointed out that “until and unless we begin to look at that, we are going to find that generations of young people will continue to spiral out of control and present us with recurring decimals in relation to crime in this country”.
He made the comments during debate on the Police (Amendment) Bill 2017 in the Senate.
Adams said he and other principals had seen the signs of the “incipient subculture” as far back as 1992 and had spoken about the danger it posed to young people and to schools.
“Even back then we were saying that something should be done about it. Very little was done except a lot of talk, and so we get this situation where we have downright contempt and disregard for law and the punishment system, and, as a result, a substantial undermining of the criminal justice system in this country.”
He observed some of those young students of the 1990s had now become “really indifferent” young adults, seen being “paraded” daily in the media after they had run afoul of the law.
“They feel it is a badge of honour to be doing what they are doing and to be caught and punished for it.”
The senator maintained public service vehicles were having “a corrupting influence” on the island’s young people, given that “that type transportation is the preferred mode though we have free bus fares system in this country”.
He urged consideration be given to getting children to and from school in “a proper mode of transportation” and suggested a partnership between the Government-owned Transport Board and “the good minibuses” as a pilot project initially.
Adams also questioned the current method of transferring students from primary to secondary school, with students “coming from hither, thither and criss-crossing the country” to get to school.
“The transportation system is not good. They are exposed and virtually abandoned to the type of behaviour that exists on the ZRs,” he complained. (GC)