First of all I would like to thank the heavenly Father for giving me the health and strength to do this School Based Assessment (SBA), without him nothing is possible. The successful completion of this study would not have been possible without the assistance and cooperation of the number of person. Consequently, I would like to thank one of my social studies teacher for providing me with a very good statistics, and a great big thanks to the people of down town Montego Bay for co operating and for giving their honest opinions. I also wish to thank the following personnel for being a constant source of encouragement and assistance, my mother Miss , my sisters, my friends of the body and my present teacher Miss Johnson. I give thanks to the E-Leaning lab for providing me with very useful assistance with the internet. Special thanks to , High school for a small support of opinion. Thanks everyone I appreciate your help and the hard work you have put into it.
Introduction
Montego Bay is the second city of Jamaica. It is located in the parish of St.James. This parish is also the major tourism attraction of the country. I have been living in Montego Bay all my life and within this time I have notice the numerous children living on the on the street for specific reasons such as: Abandonment of children by parents after divorce or separation, Physical, emotional, verbal and sexual abuse, homelessness etc. I had an experience that led me to do this question for my SBA, “One day as I sat down town having a conversation with my friend, I had a drink in my hand which I was drinking, and out of nowhere came this little boy, he took the drink right out of my hand and run as fast as he could. The moment I saw him I knew he was one of those children living on the street so I did not even bother to curse I just kept calm.”
Personally, I took this into consideration and believe that I could further my research on this issue. I have also put into consideration of where the children eat and sleep, even though they are living on the street, so I decided to further my research by allowing some of the children to give me a tour of where they sleep and the food they eat, the sight was saddening and heart- breaking. The children brought to an abundant building, under a bridge, even over by dump-up beach on the sand where some of them sleep in the nights, there were cardboards, mattress that were thrown away by people and wet sponges. My heart became full when I saw the condition that these children were living in and the struggle are going throw for a daily meal. I have therefore decided to conduct a survey to investigation and voice my option about the children on the street.
Procedures used to collect data
A total of 50 questionnaires were prepared and given to the residents living in the community of Montego Bay. It was expected that at least 40 of these will returned. I therefore decided to choose the community by the process of random selection, which will cater for all the requirements mentioned above. The numbers of all the residents in the community were written, each on a slip of paper. Each slip of paper was folded and placed in a box, which was closed and shaken vigorously to ensure a thorough mixture of the numbers. A total of 47 slips were then drawn from the box, one after the other, while the box is been shaken in the process.
Method of investigation
In order to collect data from the survey, I have decided to use printed questionnaires. The questionnaires were used as a form of tool for collecting data. This provided a number of advantages over an actual interview: It saves time
It could be done at any convenient time for the persons doing it It guarantees confidentiality to respondents since no name is required. I interviewed children on the streets and ask of their residence and why they were on the streets Research-social studies with SBA guide and CXC question by Rampersad Ramsawak and Ralph R. Umraw.
Presentation and explanation of data
- A total of 50 questionnaires were distributed to random residents of Montego
- Bay city.47 questionnaires were returned.60% were females and 40% were males.
Interpretation of data
There was an agreement by the citizens of Montego Bay city that there are children living on the street in critical conditions. There were children living under bridges (40%), others lived in abandoned buildings (25%) and the worst of all there were children living and sleeping on the streets (25%). Children are on the streets as a result of non-parental guidance, outcast from home, mental, physical, and emotional abuse. These children have to get food to eat from either selling illegal sudstances, begging, working or taking findings from the garbage bins. The citizens of Montego Bay suggest that the best way to prevent children from being on the streets is to start with better parental guidance and in terms involves the police to help.
Findings
The findings from my investigation were very precise and in some minds a reality discovered that 40% of street children were as a cause of poverty.60% of them obtained food by begging and 51% of Montegonians believe that parental guidance will end this cycle, while 38%believe that police system could do the job .11%throught of other procedures.
Rational
I choose this question because of my concerns toward children living on the streets of Montego Bay and to determine the causes and effects of this. This study is being conducted also as my school based assignment for a social studies course I am presently pursuing.
Fig1: Pie-chart showing how street children eat food and drink on a daily basis It was agreed by 100% of the respondent that street children eat food from specific ways. Fig1 indicates how the children on the street eat on a daily basis. Most of the respondents stated that (55%) of the children eat by begging, while (30%) eat from garbage bins, (10%) sell illegal drugs for a living and (5%) of them work.
Fig2: Length of residence of respondents
Fig2 show ages of the respondents were residing in Montego Bay. It can be seen that (25%) of the respondent were between the ages of 17-23, (20%) were between the ages of 24-30, (15%) were between the ages 31-37 and (40%) of the respondents were over 40 years old.
Fig3: Causes of children living on the street
A significant 40% of the population claimed that a cause for the children living on the street is because of poverty, 30% stated that crime and violence was a next cause, 20% of the respondent stated that it could have been because of the separation of their parents and 10% claim that it was because of Child Abuse.
Recommendation
A child plays a vital role in today’s society, this is because they are seen to be the children of the future, which will carry out and continue our family tradition and become noting but greatness to the world and make us proud. As a result of the children been on the street there are some justify actions that are to be put in place, not only by the government but also the person in the community (who is of great concerns). One of the major important recommendations is that the children be remove from the street and be placed in homes or foster care.
In order for this to be success different personnel from different institutions would come together and put work in to place, but the children too would have to help by cooperating with the help provided by the government. Members of the Montego Bay community can help by contributing food items and/or money to the institution to which they are at, or by adopting them if necessary.
The persons working in the foster care department accompanied by someone from the police force can do regular checkups on the street to see if children are on it and remove then immediately. The local government authority must be notified to embark on a certain programme to help the children and to educate the employees in the institution how to, then they will see that indeed their job are efficient.
It was also revealed that the children been on the street will be exposed to illegal weapons which has been hidden in bushes are any secret place that they would find in the process of seeking items for their own satisfaction, if they are been exposed to these weapons they will practice to use them on each other are even other people trying to intimidate them for whatsoever they need and this will only increase the rate of crime and violence, which is a major problem in Jamaica.
CONCLUSION
From data collected, the following conclusion can be reached Children living on the street were a main concern for the citizen of Montego Bay. Most children were living on the street with family care because of specify reason they had to abandon home. Most children living on the street were between the stages of toddler to adolescent.
Statement of problem
The matter at hand is the prevalence and causes of children on the street in Montego Bay. It is my uttermost concern to determine the reasons of children being in the street.
Bibliography
Ivan Waterman and Janey Fisher. (2007). CSEC SOCIAL STUDIES. malaysia: Macmillan Punlishers limited. Rampersad Ramsawaw and Ralph R. Umraw. (2005). modules in social studies. Teddy’s Shopping Center,Gulfview Link Road,Gulfview,l La Romaine,Trinidad,WI: Caribbean Educaational Publishers.
