Member of Parliament for St James Southern Homer Davis is urging the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to involve teachers in identifying students who require assistance through the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).

“When I go into the primary schools, for example, teachers would tell me that some of the children who are beneficiaries of the PATH programme really don’t need it and as a result, there are students who are in need that sometimes they have to use their own lunch to subsidise those children. So, I am saying minister and PS [permanent secretary] shouldn’t there be any collaboration when the investigation is being done with the primary school principals and teachers, identify the children who are most needy because this is something that keeps coming up,” Davis suggested during a PATH town hall meeting in St James on Thursday, April 25.

Social Security Minister Pearnel Charles Jr said the suggestion by the Southern St James MP echoes the sentiments of several guidance counsellors across several parishes and is being considered by the ministry.

“What we intend to do is after we finish the town halls we are going to have specific engagements with the Ministry of Education and Youth and other ministries partners to make sure we design the options of what that collaboration will be for the new dimension of collaboration, so there is collaboration now, there is an intersection between the two,” Charles said.

He explained that principals and teachers recommend students who should be included in the programme.

“Right now principals are recommending students for PATH, right now several teachers are writing and recommending persons and the experts at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security take those recommendations and they carry out their evaluations. Sometimes teachers may not get it right because teachers may see one angle of a student and think that student may be on PATH but the social worker is going to do a much more comprehensive investigation. Sometimes the teachers get it completely right and we may not so that is where collaboration is important to ensure we are looking at all the different angles of the student at the school, of our investigations in the community to come up with the best result and the best outcome,” Charles explained.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has been hosting town halls islandwide to get the public’s feedback and recommendations for the PATH programme, which is set to be revamped.