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Permanent Secretary for Education, Selina Kuruleca says a more comprehensive approach is needed to address the increasing number of youths seen on the streets.

Kuruleca highlights the inefficacy of directly reintegrating children into classrooms without proper preparation.

The PS says a period of two to four weeks of reorientation is necessary to equip these children with the skills to adjust to the school environment.

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Kuruleca adds this approach aims to address instances of aggression often seen in children with a street background.

“So they take whatever they want, whenever they want. Some of them can be ill-mannered and quite obnoxious. So that process of reorienting them about social skills, about behaviours, needs to be done before we can even start talking about academia and reading. So that whole process needs to be looked at.”

PS Education Selina Kuruleca

Kuruleca says the focus now shifts towards identifying suitable orientation facilities to prepare these children accordingly before putting them into the traditional classroom setting.