Minister of Youth and Community Empowerment Adrian Forde has made an impassioned plea for Barbadians to care for the young people.
Addressing an awards ceremony for an essay competition on How I Can Stop Violence in Schools at the Warrens Office Complex on Wednesday, Forde said the Barbadian young people were “too precious” to be left by the wayside.
“Sadly, we don’t have natural resources like gold, bauxite, oil, all the resources that other countries would salivate about. The only thing we have is what we are seeing before us, these bright young faces before us . . . . We must invest in the young people. In order to minimise and ultimately eliminate school violence, we must adopt an approach which involves the entire communities,” he said.
Forde said now was the time for the country to take a holistic approach on helping the nation’s youth and curbing the violence in schools.
He added, “Gone are the days when we say it’s not my child so it’s not my problem. It’s everybody’s problem. If we lose one, we lose one to man”.
“I see no reason why a young person could not provide the answer to curbing violence in our schools and our society. Who is better able to articulate the issues of violence in our schools and how it impacts on them on a daily basis?” Forde said.
Kya McCarthy of the Gordon Walters Primary School placed first in the competition followed by Avielle Small also of Gordon Walters and Kiokya Clarke of St Bernard’s Primary was third. (DB)
Watch as Kya McCarthy reads her winning essay.
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