Junior Achievement Company moves to curb school violence

The Junior Achievement Company has announced that it will be placing a junior achievement programme in every school in Laventille and other “hot spot” schools in the country from next year, in order to stem the tide of indiscipline in schools and school violence.

Executive Director of Junior Achievement of TT, Errol Lewis, spoke to the media after the formal launch of the 2004 Junior Achievement Company Programme, at St Mary’s College, Port-of-Spain, yesterday morning. The after-school company programme is focussed on allowing fourth form students, the practical knowledge of establishing and running of an actual company from capitalisation to liquidation with the aid of trained professionals. The programme will run for 21 weeks starting Monday, January 5, 2004 and concludes on Saturday, May 29, 2004 at the Trinidad Hilton. Lewis also disclosed plans for obtaining a JA television company, where the students will do their own research and TV programmes, which will hopefully be aired on local television some time in the future. Speaking about the importance of the Junior Achievement programme, he said while most private companies spend their money in promoting tourism and culture, he felt now is the time for them to spend some of it on educational development, especially with the problem of school violence now in focus.

“I am telling the business community, spend some time with JA, spend some money with JA, because we are preparing the workforce for tomorrow,” he said. As a result, from January, JA will be in every school, mostly primary schools and secondary schools in Laventille as an in-school activity. “We will not just be focussing on Laventille, but we will be looking at the hotspots in Trinidad,” said Lewis. He said the JA programme is needed more than ever to make students more aware of the value of their education. “If we can show them value in what they are doing in school, then I think it will decrease some of the deviant activity that we see around us,” added Lewis. Also addressing the full auditorium of students and parents from all over the country, was feature speaker, Anthony Pierre, principal of Anthony P Pierre & Company accountancy school, who urged parents to pay more attention to their charges and take stock of their responsibilities to their children.