Civic groups urged to join youth crime fight

Amid rising concerns over youth crime and dwindling participation in extracurricular activities, Minister of Educational Transformation Senator Chad Blackman has called for urgent collaboration with civic organisations to guide young people towards constructive life paths.  

As the Barbados Boy Scouts Association opened its national camp at Blackman and Gollop Primary School on Wednesday, Senator Blackman highlighted the importance of early intervention and community mentorship in steering the island’s young men towards positive life paths.  

The minister, a former scout himself, stressed the value of clubs like these for young boys, who are increasingly vulnerable to negative influences.  

He said: “When you look at a lot of the challenges that we are confronting across the Caribbean today, organisations like Scouts, and other civic organisations have a critical role to play in trying to help our young people, particularly our young men, to understand the importance of working together, handling conflict, but also exploring the outdoors.”  

He praised the Boy Scouts for making national contributions during a time of growing social challenges.  

“You play a pivotal role in trying to help the country to keep them nurtured and grounded—not just civics but working together, conflict resolution, solving problems—and I want to commend you strongly for what you’re doing and long may this continue,” Senator Blackman remarked.  

He added: “It is civic organisations like this and associations that must play a pivotal role in ensuring that our young people have a bright future underscored by leadership and working together in a harmonious way.”  

The minister encouraged other associations across the country to continue playing their role in nurturing the nation’s youth.  

His sentiments were echoed by the chief commissioner of the scouts, Trevor Jones, in light of increasing reports of youth crime, especially involving children as young as 15.  

“When they get into trouble, it is too late to try to fix the problem. You’ve got to reach them from the time they are Beavers and get them through all four sections if we want to see progress at the end of the day.”  

Jones supported reaching children at a young age, instilling in them a clear sense of right and wrong, and encouraging them to take responsibility for their actions.  

“Most of the problems we see now are because those people don’t have a concept of right and wrong—a true concept of right and wrong—because what they think is right and wrong is not what society expects.”  

He added: “Also, they have not been taught to take responsibility for their actions. When I do something, what will be the consequences? And by the time they realise the consequences, it is way too late.”  

Jones strongly opposed a trend among parents allowing their primary school-aged children to decide for themselves whether to join extracurricular activities.  

“Too many parents now leave it up to children to decide whether they will join an extracurricular activity, and I don’t think that’s right—especially when we are talking about primary school. We have primary school children now deciding—and it’s not that they’re not joining Scouts or going to join 4-H or going to play football—they’re doing nothing, and that is a big problem.”  

Parents must take the lead in ensuring their children are involved in meaningful activities, the chief scout said. 

“The only way we can really address that is to get to the parents who will say to their child: ‘You’ve got to do something. If you don’t want to do Scouts, you’re doing this or that—but you have to be involved in something’,” Jones explained.  

Senator Blackman stressed additional benefits to joining civic organisations: “To have fun as they’ve said—but equally to learn new things—as the motto, Be prepared. You must be prepared for everything in life. Sometimes you don’t know what will come before you, but this allows you to prepare yourself for any eventuality so that whether you’re going into sport, business, language studies or football—whatever—you are prepared for life.” (LG)