The Tribune

THERE is a sad story on the front page of The Tribune tonight – one that goes beyond the to and fro of politics.

It is the job of school attendance monitors to follow up when a child is missing from school – but they could hardly have expected what they found when they went in search of one particular student.

They found the boy, a 12-year-old, living in a car. Worse, he was alone there. No one to support him.

Imagine the challenges that child must have been facing. How does that child feed himself? How does he provide for his clothes, let alone the prospect of being able to go to school?

What cracks has that child fallen down to find himself separated with no support, no help, not even a roof over his head except that of a car?

Sadly, he is not the only child to find themselves facing impossible situations.

Earlier this month, The Tribune reported on another 12-year-old boy, left alone with his two siblings to fend for themselves after immigration officers apprehended their mother.

Those children had not attended school in three days. Their mother would normally give them lunch and bus funds, their father having died years ago, but with her gone, as the 12-year-old boy said: “We ain’ get no money.”

Do we really think these are the only children to be left to fend for themselves? It is impossible to imagine what these young minds are going through – but just as impossible to think that these will be the only children adrift in our society.

Education Minister Glenys Hanna Martin was heartfelt when she talked of how “a child should not fall by the wayside”.

She added: “The one person protected in this life should be the children of this nation.”

She spoke searchingly too of the need to try and deal with the learning loss suffered by students during the pandemic.

Remote learning worked for some – but not for many others. Some simply struggled to engage remotely, others had difficulty accessing the virtual platforms at all. Still others were part of families whose parents had suddenly lost jobs in the pandemic as everything locked down. Hotels shut their doors, airlines stopped flying, the tourism cashflow shut off. People were left without pay cheques and trying to decide between food on the table or paying the electric bill or the cable bill. Some children simply didn’t have power to be able to log on to virtual learning.

And now, even after the economy has picked up again, and many are back at work, still there are children on the outside.

The international organisation UNICEF has a mandate that calls for no child to be left behind – and it is a mandate we should embrace closer to home.

To do so should require more than simply calling on the Ministry of Education to solve all our ills. The ministry cannot change the circumstances that left that 12-year-old boy alone in a car.

No, it needs to be a bigger effort. A whole-nation effort. This is the kind of challenge that those organisations that declare they are working towards a better Bahamas should rise to meet.

This is where churches should unite – hands across the aisle – to help our children. This is where civic organisations should pull together to ensure that mandate of no child being left behind.

This should be a bigger conversation. One that takes in issues such as poverty, such as hunger, such as community support for families where a parent is not present – or two parents.

The Education Minister’s heart is in the right place – but she needs more resources to conquer this challenge. That is no slight on her, simply a recognition of the scale of the problem she – and we – face.

As we start the run-up to a by-election, with both parties seeking our votes, perhaps one question to ask them is simply this: “What will you do to ensure no child is left behind?”

It is also a question we should ask ourselves.

For the sake of those other 12-year-olds out there alone who need our help.