Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

A policeman ensures that these two students are properly dressed for school. - Norman Grindley/Staff Photographer

WITH SEVERAL reports of adolescents displaying deviant behaviour on their way to and from school, the question of how parents can keep an eye on their children during this time has come to the fore.

In March, a feud between students of Kingston College and St George's College resulted in at least three students being stabbed and others injured, and another fight between girls of prominent high schools linked to the incident, occurred while the students were travelling on the road.

Ann Marie Campbell, chief of party of the Jamaica's Solution to Youth Lifestyle and Empowerment (JA-Style) programme, acknowledged that the behaviour of adole-scents outside the home was a challenge.

"In my opinion, what I observe out there is that a lot of these families cannot do better," she said.

Children left on their own

Campbell also said many teenagers were being left to fend for themselves as parents believed that at this stage, they could look after their own welfare.

With many parents having to work eight-hour jobs, some longer, many teens have to find their way to and from school. When The Gleaner recently visited sections of the Corporate Area, several high-school students were seen inappropriately dressed. Boys wore earrings and girls wore shorter-than-normal tunics.

On a bus ride from downtown Kingston to Half-Way Tree, St Andrew, a group of teenage girls travelling in the back of the vehicle behaved in a vulgar manner, singing loudly and in unison with songs promoting illicit sex practices.

Campbell stressed that parents should regard monitoring their children as important.

"Monitoring should not be looked at in negative terms and it should not be seen by parents as restricting their teenagers," she said.

Mentoring important

She said monitoring and mentoring children had become even more important given the prevalence of distracting technological gadgets and the emergence of video recordings showing teenagers engaging in sexual acts.

Dr Kim Scott Fisher, programme director for child resiliency at the Hope Counselling and Wellness Centre, believes parents need to develop trust and communication with their children in order to battle problems.

mark.beckford@gleanerjm.com