MARIGOT--Former President of the Collectivité Alain Richardson said Thursday, he strongly condemned the recent violence at the Lycée, calling for a halt to “cosmetic solutions” and for the State and the Collectivité to deal once and for all with the causes at their roots.
He referred to the shocking incident last week where a group of youths armed with machetes and a gun was able to breach the Lycée perimeter to settle scores with students, resulting in one student sustaining cuts from a machete. The incident resulted in the establishment remaining closed for two days.
“I strongly condemn this violence and the repeated violation of places expected to be sanctuaries of knowledge and learning, of transmission of values of citizenship, of training and of equipping of our youth with the tools for social and professional success,” he said. “Yet it is sad to observe that our school system is increasingly failing to carry out successfully its mission because of lack of material, human and educational resources, lack of autonomy, but also the fact that it remains not adapted to the socio-linguistic realities of our island.”
He added he fully supported the Lycée principal for the way the crisis was handled, but also teachers and staff for exercising their right of withdrawal. Many supervisors of the Lycée, and in particular the Collège, had tried unsuccessfully to warn the Collectivité on what they had been observing, he said.
“To the parents, I say show more interest in your children in what they do in school as well as outside. I want to remind them that the family must be the primary educator of our children: live up to your part of responsibility and assert your authority. It is urgent to address these problems that exist in the vicinity of our institutions of learning (Lycée, Collège, primary schools, library, sport parks, etc.). They include squatting on the outskirts of these establishments by persons who have no reasons to be there, drug consumption, illegal trafficking, and harassment and activities of luring of minors etc.
“One fact is certain; all the perpetrators of the attacks as well as a growing number of young persons involved in delinquency acts (robberies, hold-ups, etc.) have been on the benches of these same schools. It is obvious that these youngsters have not benefited or received the knowledge or the values of citizenship and have not received either any training or tools to equip them to face the social and professional challenges.
“We are feeling the direct effects of school failure, social failure and societal failure. Gangs, consumption and drug trafficking, carrying and usage of weapons, antisocial behaviour, delinquency and crime feed on school failure, on the marginalisation and exclusion of our young people from the jobs market.
“The State of France and the Collectivité can no longer turn a blind eye and hide behind the cost of effectively treating the roots of these social and societal problems of our youth. The issues of education, training, preparation for citizenship, access to employment and professional opportunities; the issues of empowering and equipping our youth to be more responsible and of valuing them as the greatest asset for the future of this territory demand clear and profound answers.
“The growing numbers of our young people, who fall victim to school dropout and school failure (academic, social and societal), deserve another chance in life before they fall into criminal activities and other violent acts. Those who have already fallen deserve a way out beyond prison. The year, during which I was head of this Collectivité, two of my battles were to have in St. Martin a Centre of the Regiment of Adapted Military Service (RSMA) and a school of second chance (école de la deuxième chance).
“These institutions coupled with the mentorship project that I presented (Le Parrainage) are essential for St. Martin because they are the best tools and policies that can help save our youth who are marginalised because of school and social failure. Unfortunately, the State of France is too concerned about its budget and faithful to its policy of abandoning St. Martin.
“I encourage our young people and especially our students and pupils, to stay focused on their education, to increase their efforts to succeed despite the difficulties. I say to them: Don’t let anyone turn you away from your goals in life, do not be intimidated by those who want to destabilise you and divert you from your way forward, resist the pressure and the call to join gangs and or to use illicit drugs.”
