SERVOL gently but firmly refuses to become involved. An example will illustrate the above.
INVOLVING THE COMMUNITY & PARENTS
This is the hallmark of all
SERVOL projects in that from the inception of any project there is the firm
insistence that parents and communities must get involved and without them,
SERVOL gently but firmly refuses to become involved. An example will illustrate
the above.
When SERVOL was asked by the government of Trinidad and Tobago to disseminate its Early Childhood and Adolescent Programmes all over Trinidad and Tobago, the first step was the insertion of an advertisement in the newspapers and television: any community which was interested in setting up an Early Childhood or Adolescent Development Programme for their children, was invited to apply to a Ministry of Education/SERVOL Committee. More than two hundred (200) requests were made and representatives of the communities were invited to a meeting in which the areas of responsibilities of all the parties were clearly spelt out.
From the outset, it was a project of the people of the community: SERVOL would only provide those elements of the project which the community found impossible or difficult to obtain.
The community was required to set up a village board of education to supervise the project, provide a suitable structure and to collect a small fee from participants to help pay teachers' salaries. The Ministry of Education would provide funds to raise teachers' salaries to an acceptable level. SERVOL would train all teachers and instructors, monitor the projects costs, equipment and other such expenses.
The programme expanded on a phased basis and to date includes 150 Early Childhood Centres and 32 Adolescent Development Centres, fourteen of which offer skill training as well as the Adolescent Development Course.
The Boards of Education of the Early Childhood Programme are the official employers of the teachers. They are responsible for the physical upkeep of the centres and monitoring the punctuality and performance of teachers. Each month SERVOL transfers funds to their bank account but it is the Boards which actually make out teachers' salary cheques, pay the National Insurance and Health Surcharge, etc. The same holds true for the Adolescent Programmes except that for a number of reasons, the official employer of the instructors is SERVOL.
This forces the community to become involved in the educational process and parents are the ones who vote in the Boards of Education at an annual general meeting.