Punctuality is now a problem in Georgetown Schools

Oct 12, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – Every school day in the city, in almost every ward, you can see scores of schoolchildren – dressed in their uniforms – ambling to school after 9:00am. The casualness of these children suggests that punctuality is no longer important to them or to their parents.

But it does also raise the question as to what the schools in the city are doing about late attendance.  Surely if stern action was being taken against these children, there would have been greater urgency in them trying to get to school on time.

In my time at school, when the bell rang, the gates were immediately locked. The assigned prefects made their way to the school gates with register in hand. After prayers had been concluded, the gates would be opened, and the names of all latecomers would be recorded and they would each be sentenced to detention for late coming.

No one attempted to try to evade the gatekeepers. There were too many teachers who would be on the lookout for those children who wanted to avoid sanctions. Any attempt to bypass the gatekeepers would be met with more than simply detention. As such, children made it their duty to try to get to school on time.

In those days, school was convened at 8:00am. The overwhelming majority of the children made it to school on time. Since then, because of the transportation crisis which erupted in the country, the authorities decided that most schools would commence at 9:00. Some schools in the countryside however start classes earlier and end the day earlier.

One of the casualties of this move has been a reduction in the lunch hour. This has had the effect in most children being unable to go home for lunch. This has added to the burdens of parents who live nearby to schools having to provide them with a lunch before they depart for school.  Not many children today enjoy a home-cooked hot lunch such as was the case when the lunch break was one and a half hours long.

But the later opening of school, at 09:00hrs. should have seen fewer children being late. Instead, what we are witnessing in the streets of Georgetown is that more and more children are late for school. And one has to ask, what about their parents? How come these parents are not ensuring that children are leaving for school to be punctual (at school)?

This is not a problem which requires the intervention of the Ministry of Education. This is not a policy issue. It is a management issue and it is up to the respective headteachers to ensure greater punctuality by ensuring that those who reach to school after 09:00 hrs. are sanctioned, first with a warning, then with a letter to call in their parents to enquire why the consistency in late school attendance. If teachers keep a proper record of those persons in their classes, they would realize quickly just who are not punctual and who are. This would allow for appropriate interventions to be made. In Jamaica, there is growing concern about the lack of punctuality and absenteeism in schools. One in every four children is said to be affected.

Four years ago, the then Chief Education Officer in Guyana emphasised that regular school attendance and punctuality were critical to the development and education of students. He was quoted as saying that, “Excellence in attendance and punctuality should be rewarded because of the positive impact this has on the individual student, the school, community and society.”

A few months ago, a letter writer to this newspaper observed that most, secondary schools in Georgetown generally start at 9am and dismiss at 3pm; students therefore spend 6 hours at school while nearby on the East Coast of Demerara, you will find secondary schools starting at 8:15, 8:30 or 8:45 am but all dismissing at 2:45 pm. He/ She questioned the inconsistency.

So could standardising school hours assist? It is worth a try. There is no reason why schools should be commencing at 9:00 hrs. Many parents now drive and they have to reach to work for 8:00 am and so they can afford – and many do – drop off their children to school a full one hour before classes commence. If schools in certain areas commence before 09:00hrs., there is no reason why this cannot happen throughout the country.

It is certainly worth a try to see whether it will improve punctuality. But even if the authorities are timid to revert to earlier commencement times, the Schools’ Welfare Department should have by now been taking note of the large numbers of children who are late for school each day and for no apparent just reason.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• attempt, parents, Peeping Tom, schoolchildren, uniforms

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