00:00Clinical psychologist and chair of the Call to Action's Parenting and Family Life Committee, Tahira Ramsouk, says there are multiple
00:08factors behind disruptive and violent behavior among children.
00:12She tells the morning edition Child Align Trinidad and Tobago launched a technical report and it showed the issues that
00:21children faced between the period 2020 to 2025 with a high number of children dealing with challenges within the home.
00:30And that data showed that approximately 11,000 children aged 17 years and under called the helpline. And the most
00:41frequently reported category would have been social and family problems, followed by abuse, health and psychosocial well-being and high
00:52-risk behaviors.
00:54Ramsouk agrees. Students must be held accountable, but says sending them home alone is not the answer. Without intervention, she
01:03warns, the behavior is likely to return with the child when they return to school.
01:09What are we doing to help that student and prevent that cycle and that behavior from continuing?
01:17So, as you said, a child goes home, they're suspended and they might just be, again, on social media, on
01:25the phone, on TikTok, right, not doing much.
01:29And if we had to put them back into the school system, again, we are not going to see much
01:35change.
01:36However, against the backdrop of police concerns over smoking, vaping and other delinquent activity among students, Ramsouk says, lasting change
01:47requires getting to what is driving the behavior.
01:50We need to take it a step further and pay it and ensure that the other interventions, there is continuity
01:58of care as well and consistency.
02:02Because what I find sometimes, Marlon, is that we implement certain things and it's very short-lived.
02:09Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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