Stop the littering of schools, says Hall

Senior Education Officer Carlton “CP” Hall has expressed his disappointment with some of the nation’s students in relation to the littering of school compounds.{{more}}

Hall said during visits to some schools, he has observed students throwing food containers through the louvres.

“These days, students tend to tell teachers that their parents did not send them to school to pick up litter. This represents a shift in the values which we know.

“In our day, we sang the song ‘Bits of paper, bits of paper, lying on the floor, lying on the floor, make the school untidy, pick them up…”

Hall was at the time addressing students at the closing ceremony for the Coreas Hazells Inc/ Ministry of Education Secondary Schools’ Environment Preservation Project competition held on Friday, November 4.

The education official also revealed that he has been advised that “parents are telling the school authorities they didn’t send their child to school to pick up any paper. That is happening these days and we need to do something about it.”

“…We need to keep our school environment free of rodents. We see containers from fast food outlets that are nowhere near the schools. Students take the containers there and dump them when there are bins available,” Hall said.

He, however, encouraged students not to be afraid of blowing the whistle on someone if they are seen littering.

“There may be students traveling on the mini-bus and you see litter being thrown out of the window, and I hope it’s not one of your friends. Report it to your teacher, who I believe can find the president of the mini-bus association, Mr. Bacchus, who should then take the necessary action on his members.”

“We have to blow the whistle,” Hall said.

Hall, a veteran calypsonian, also spoke of his own experience of “blowing the whistle” when he had to confront a food vendor for handling money and serving food at the same time.

“The person taking cash was serving food and this happened to the customer in front of me and I spoke out. I said it should not be happening.

“I identified myself and everyone looked at me as if I had come out of Mars, including the person who was served the food.

“We must blow the whistle. Do not be afraid to blow the whistle,” he stated.

The Senior Education Officer went on to remind the students that preservation of the environment is very important.

“We are doing it for our children, and you students must leave an environment fit for living, for your students.

The 2010/2011 Coreas Hazells Inc/ Ministry of Education Secondary Schools’ Environment Preservation Project competition was won by the Bethel High School, with their project, “Maintenance of our Beaches and Streams”. (AA)