Tweet
'I want to learn'
13-year-old boy in tears after being denied an educationINGRID BROWN, Observer senior reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Damian Taylor (right) with his mother Icilda Notice and his two younger sisters at their home in Mahoe Hill, St Mary last week on a day he should be in school. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)
NOT a single day goes by since September when 13-year-old Damian Taylor does not cry about not being able to attend school.
He had been looking forward to starting his first day at Castleton Junior High in St Mary, but to date his mother, Icilda Notice, has not been able to send him.
For although the current JLP administration has abolished tuition fees at the secondary level, Notice told the Observer that she simply cannot afford to buy his uniform, school shoes, books, bag and other essential school supplies.
Notice, who has five other children - ages 2 to 10 - has high hopes for Damian as she knows an education is what will take him out of the absolute poverty they now live in at a cottage at the abandoned Mahoe Hill All-Age School in St Mary.
"Everyday him de here and a cry and fret because him no get fi go school and me really want him fi go," Notice told the Observer.
Dressed in tattered clothes, the shy but intelligent teen told the Observer that he "longs" to be in school.
When asked what he missed most about school, he easily replied: "learning".
"I want to learn," he reiterated firmly.
"Me just want some khaki pants and white shirt and a school bag and school shoes fi him so me can go down the school go talk to them fi tek him now," Notice said.
Damian's tears and frustration are also driven by the fact that his two smaller sisters, ages five and three, are not in school.
The five-year-old girl appeared not to be socialised enough for her age as she would only smile when questions were posed to her. She was unresponsive and hid behind her mother.
The family is one of two that have been left living in the bushy terrain of Mahoe Hill after other residents moved out when a swing bridge - the only access to that community - collapsed.
Since then, Notice, her children and spouse have been living in the cottage of the former all-age school which closed when the community was abandoned. Now, Damian and his siblings are the only children living on that side of the river and they have been cut off from interaction with their peers.
It took the Observer a bumpy ride through the river bed on a tractor to get to the house, as the Wag Water River, with its wide bed, separates the family from the rest of the neighbouring Broadgate community.
Inside the sparsely furnished cottage, the family has no running water or electricity.
When the river is in spate they are trapped inside the house for days, sometimes without food.
Through rain or shine, the other children have to wade through deep water to get to the main road to attend school, putting on their shoes when they get to the other side.
But Damian told the Observer that he would gladly wade through waist-high water any day if it meant he would get to go to school.
"Me just want go to school," he said firmly.
A promise made by the Observer to highlight his plight in the hope of getting some assistance for him to get uniform and shoes for school caused the first smile to break on his young face.
His mother told the Observer that if Damian received the necessary items for school she would be very happy as it was not her desire to keep her son at home.
The National Works Agency (NWA) is in the process of erecting a bailey bridge to that community which should make life a bit easier for Damian when he starts school.
Unfortunately, the family will have nowhere to live then as the school will need the cottage they now occupy.
Unemployed with six children, Notice said she tried getting them on the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH) to get Government assistance to send them to school, but her application could not be processed since she did not have birth certificates for some of the children.
However, one resident of neighbouring Broadgate told the Observer that it would be extremely difficult for the relevant authorities to know that the family was this desperate since no one would be willing to wade in the water to get to their home.
"Them really need to get some help to go to school because in a time like this children no suppose to de home and don't go to school, especially when them want to learn," the resident said and appealed for assistance on their behalf.
All 60 members of parliament were asked earlier this year to assist in identifying the additional 120,000 persons living below the poverty line who are to be placed on PATH. The member of parliament for the area is Tarn Peralto.
13-year-old boy in tears after being denied an educationINGRID BROWN, Observer senior reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Damian Taylor (right) with his mother Icilda Notice and his two younger sisters at their home in Mahoe Hill, St Mary last week on a day he should be in school. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)NOT a single day goes by since September when 13-year-old Damian Taylor does not cry about not being able to attend school.
He had been looking forward to starting his first day at Castleton Junior High in St Mary, but to date his mother, Icilda Notice, has not been able to send him.
For although the current JLP administration has abolished tuition fees at the secondary level, Notice told the Observer that she simply cannot afford to buy his uniform, school shoes, books, bag and other essential school supplies.
Notice, who has five other children - ages 2 to 10 - has high hopes for Damian as she knows an education is what will take him out of the absolute poverty they now live in at a cottage at the abandoned Mahoe Hill All-Age School in St Mary.
"Everyday him de here and a cry and fret because him no get fi go school and me really want him fi go," Notice told the Observer.
Dressed in tattered clothes, the shy but intelligent teen told the Observer that he "longs" to be in school.
When asked what he missed most about school, he easily replied: "learning".
"I want to learn," he reiterated firmly.
"Me just want some khaki pants and white shirt and a school bag and school shoes fi him so me can go down the school go talk to them fi tek him now," Notice said.
Damian's tears and frustration are also driven by the fact that his two smaller sisters, ages five and three, are not in school.
The five-year-old girl appeared not to be socialised enough for her age as she would only smile when questions were posed to her. She was unresponsive and hid behind her mother.
The family is one of two that have been left living in the bushy terrain of Mahoe Hill after other residents moved out when a swing bridge - the only access to that community - collapsed.
Since then, Notice, her children and spouse have been living in the cottage of the former all-age school which closed when the community was abandoned. Now, Damian and his siblings are the only children living on that side of the river and they have been cut off from interaction with their peers.
It took the Observer a bumpy ride through the river bed on a tractor to get to the house, as the Wag Water River, with its wide bed, separates the family from the rest of the neighbouring Broadgate community.
Inside the sparsely furnished cottage, the family has no running water or electricity.
When the river is in spate they are trapped inside the house for days, sometimes without food.
Through rain or shine, the other children have to wade through deep water to get to the main road to attend school, putting on their shoes when they get to the other side.
But Damian told the Observer that he would gladly wade through waist-high water any day if it meant he would get to go to school.
"Me just want go to school," he said firmly.
A promise made by the Observer to highlight his plight in the hope of getting some assistance for him to get uniform and shoes for school caused the first smile to break on his young face.
His mother told the Observer that if Damian received the necessary items for school she would be very happy as it was not her desire to keep her son at home.
The National Works Agency (NWA) is in the process of erecting a bailey bridge to that community which should make life a bit easier for Damian when he starts school.
Unfortunately, the family will have nowhere to live then as the school will need the cottage they now occupy.
Unemployed with six children, Notice said she tried getting them on the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH) to get Government assistance to send them to school, but her application could not be processed since she did not have birth certificates for some of the children.
However, one resident of neighbouring Broadgate told the Observer that it would be extremely difficult for the relevant authorities to know that the family was this desperate since no one would be willing to wade in the water to get to their home.
"Them really need to get some help to go to school because in a time like this children no suppose to de home and don't go to school, especially when them want to learn," the resident said and appealed for assistance on their behalf.
All 60 members of parliament were asked earlier this year to assist in identifying the additional 120,000 persons living below the poverty line who are to be placed on PATH. The member of parliament for the area is Tarn Peralto.
Comment