St.

Rose Modern Secondary School

Social Studies School

Based Assessment
Teacher: Kenny James

Elkim D. Smith

Profile Page
School Name: St. Rose Modern Secondary School
Subject: Social Studies
Topic: Will a Community Center with a well thought out skill
and development programs help keep the youths of St. Johns
of the streets?
School Code: 080016
Teacher: k. James
Year: 2015-2016
Region: Grenada

TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT....................................................................4
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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM........................................................5

RATIONALE.............................................................................................................................. 5
DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT.........................................................................6
METHOD OF INVESTIGATION...............................................................................7
PROCEDURES FOR DATA COLLECTION................................................................12
PRESENTATION OF DATA...................................................................................13
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA..........................................................17
STATEMENT OF FINDINGS.................................................................................19
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY.............................................................................20
RECOMMENDATION..........................................................................................21

Acknowledgement
A special thank you is due to, to the almighty God for the gift of knowledge and understanding, my Social studies
teacher Mrs. K. James for her expertise and guidance throughout the investigation of this school base assessment
(S.B.A) project, Mr. Gemma De Allie principal of St. Rose Modern Secondary School, for obliging us the time to
complete this assignment.
I also extend heartfelt thank you to my mother Ms. Marcel Smith, for her continued support and to the many students
and residents of St. Johns who have contributed their time and efforts, I am eternally grateful.

Statement of the problem

Will a community center with a well thought out skill development program help keep the youths of St. Johns of the
streets?
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Rationale
The town of Gouyave, located in the parish of St. Johns is known as the fishing capital of Grenada and is also the
home of the Olympian athlete Kirani James.
I have been a resident of the town of St. Johns for the past nineteen years. Throughout this time, I have noticed that
many of the youths these include school drops out and those that have finished at least one level of schooling find
themselves liming on the blocks, in Gun battle or just walking the streets. I have also noticed that these said
some youths get themselves involve in drug trafficking, smoking, gang related and other negative activities. As such
this has prompted me to carry out an investigation on the topic community centers and what impact, if any, they
would have on the youths of St. John

Method of investigation
In order to gather the relevant information for the topic under investigation, I have chosen to use the questionnaire
method.
The questionnaire as a tool for collecting data has advantages.

It would provide the respondents with adequate time to respond to the questions.
It would also allow the respondents to have a sense of privacy and as such it was hoped that would
encourage them to provide honest answers.
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It guarantees are not confidentiality since respondents are not required to attach their names.

Data Collection Instrument

Dear Villages,
I am a fifth form student of the St. Rose Modern secondary school who will be sitting the Caribbean Council
Examination (CXC) this year. For my Social Studies Based Assignment (SBA) I am required to carry out a survey
within my community. My survey is based on the topic What benefits will a community center have on the youths
who find themselves on the streets in the town of Gouyave, hence the reason why this questionnaire was formulated
and given to you. You are required to answer all the questions honestly and truthfully since you are not to write your
name anywhere, so no one will ever know who answered in a particular way your information will be kept
confidential. this is not an exam there no right nor wrong answer. most question can be answered by a thick. specific
instruction is given where necessary. I thank you for your time.
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Yours respectfully.
Elkim smith

Questionnaire

1. What is your sex?

a. Male
b. Female
2. What is your age range?
a. 16 - 20
b. 21 25
c. 26 30
d. 31 and over
3. How long have you been a resident of St. John?
a. 1 2
b. 3 4
c. 5 9
d. 10 and over
4. Which of the following family types do you belong to?
a. Single parent
b. Nuclear
c. Sibling household
d. Extended
e. Reorganized
5. Do you know what a community Centre is?
a. Yes
b. No
6. Are there any community centres in the town of Gouyave?
a. Yes
b. No
7. If yes are these centres utilized?
a. Yes
b. No
8. If there are no community centres in the town of Gouyave, would you like to see a community centre
erected?
a. Yes
b. No
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9. Do you think that community centres are beneficial to society? Give reason for your answer.
a. Yes
b. No

10. Would you say that a community centre being erected alone would not be as beneficial as if there was a
well thought out skill and development programme incorporated into it? Give reason for your answer.
a. Yes
b. No

11. Do you think that a community centre with a well thought out skills centre and development programme
would help curb the problem of youths being engaged in negative activities?
a. Yes
b. Maybe
c. No
In what way?

12. Do you think that a community centre cannot only serve as a haven to get youths of the street but can also
be a used for other purposes?
a. Yes
b. No

13. What purpose/s do you think they can be used for?

a. After school studies
b. Neighborhood social meeting place
c. Adult education classes
d. Recreational activities
e. Hurricane shelter
f. Other

14. What skills programs do you think can be incorporated into community centres that youths will be
interested in to keep them off the streets?
a. Art
b. Mechanics
c. Electronics
d. Wood work
e. Computer
f. Cosmetology
g. Technical drawing
h. other

15. Do you think that academics should be incorporated with the skills? Give reason for your answer.
a. Yes
b. No

16. If your answer above was yes, what type of academics do you think would be suitable?
a. Basic English
b. Basic mathematics
c. Basic social studies
d. Literacy programme
e. Business management
f. Other

17. Do you think that this programme would get the youths of the street? Give reason for your answer.
a. Yes
b. No
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18. Do you think that the members of the community can contribute towards this idea?
a. Yes
b. No
19. If your answer to the above was positive how do you think they can contribute?

20. How do you think the government churches and other businesses can contribute towards this idea?

Procedures for data collection

As stated earlier the questionnaire method was used to gather the relevant data needed to thoroughly
complete the project at hand. It was calculated that a sample of 10% was necessary in order to do the

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suyer.A total of 40 questionnaires were prepared for distribution to villagers. It was expected that at least
30 of these will be returned.

The questionnaire was prepared by me and presented to the teacher for correction. I decided to use mainly structured
questions; this was done to ensure that specific data would be gathered.
The questionnaire consisted of twenty questions, of which two were free responses. A total of thirty questionnaires
were distributed to respondents. These respondents consisted of twenty males and ten females between the ages of 15
to 30. This population was chosen through the process of random sampling.
Upon distribution of the questionnaires the respondents were given one week to complete them. The questionnaires
which were distributed on January 12th 2016 were collected on Janury18th 2016; of the thirty distributed all were
collected.

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Presentation of data
From the data collected, the following questions were chosen to give a pictorial representation.
Figure 1: do you think that community centers are beneficial to society?

Benefits of a community centre to society

yes

no

40%
60%

Figure 1 is a pie chart showing peoples opinion on whether or not community centers are beneficial to society. The
pie chart shows that 60% of the respondents do not believe that community centers are beneficial to society, whilst
40% believe that they are.

Figure 2: skills programs that can be incorporated into the community Centre.

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Skills programmes
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

percentage

Figure 2 is a histogram showing some of the skills program that can be incorporated into the community center to
help keep the youths away from negative activities. The diagram shows that mechanics is the leading skill of choice,
chosen by the respondents 35%. The others that were chosen include technical drawing 30%, computer 15%,
electronics 8%, wood work 5%, cosmetology 4% and art 3%.

Figure

3:

is

there

community

Centre

in

the

town

of

St.

John

community centre

no

The pie chart above shows that 100% of the respondents claimed that at present there are no community centers in
the town of St. John.
Figure 4: do you think that a community Centre with a well thought out skills and development program would help
curb the problem of youths being engaged in negative activities.

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reduce negative activities

100%
80%
reduce negative
activities

60%
40%
20%
0%
yes

no

This bar graph above shows that 90% of the respondents believe that if a community Centre is built there must be a
well thought out skill and development program organized in it and this would help curb the problem of youths being
engaged in negative activities whilst 10% believe that it would no help.

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Figure 5: do you think that academics should be incorporated with the skills
Choices
No
Yes

% of respondents
90
10

The table above shows that 90% of the respondents believe that only skills program should be provided whilst 10%
believe that academics should be incorporated with the skills.

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Analysis and interpretation of Data

A community Center can be defined a building used by members of a community for meetings, social events,
educational purposes and other activities. Community Centers and associations play a significant part in the life of
many local communities. Yet relatively little has been done to maintain and run them efficiently.
This research was geared towards finding out will a community center with a well thought out skilled and
development program help keep the youths of St. Johns of the streets? The data gathered and analyzed revealed the
following.
At present there are no community centers in the town to Gouyave. This was indicated by 100%of the respondent
when the question was asked. From this bit of information, it can be concluded that the authorities and community
members do not see these places as beneficial to the community. This can be supported by the fact that when the
question was asked about community centers being beneficial to society a majority of the respondent 60% stated
no whilst 40% stated yes.
The data collected further went on to show that 80% of the sample believed that a community center being built
alone without any sort of skills and development program incorporated would not be beneficial. The reason for this is
that they believe by just building a community center and having it there with no organized programs incorporated
into it would just serve a another place in which the youths can carry on with their negative activities like selling
drugs, smoking, prostitution, vandalism and so on. It can also be supported by the fact that 90% think that a
community center with a well thought out skilled and development program would help curb the problem of youths
being engaged being negative activities. The respondents believed that when this is done the youths would be able to
participate in positive activities that can help boost their morale and self-esteem. Furthermore, they will feel as part
of a community that cares about their well-being and thus be motivated to achieve.
In addition to this 75% of the respondents stated that the community center can be used for other purposes that can
aid in the development of the community. The activities they chose when the question was asked included. After
school activities 20%, neighborhood social meeting place 15% Adult education classes 22% recreational activities
10% and hurricane shelter 33%.
The data gather further when on to reveal that mechanics is the skill program that most respondents (35%) believe
that the youths will be interested in. This means that seeing as mechanics is more of a practical nature it would hold
the interest of youths as compared to a skill with a little bit more theory. It could be further supported by the fact that
90% of the respondents believed that no academic program should be incorporated into the center.
The respondents believed that the academic program maybe be a deterrent to the youths because it would be too
formal.
In addition to this the data gathered went on to show that 60% of the respondents believed that the program would
honestly get the youths off the streets whilst 20% believed that it would not. Finally, 85% believed that community
members along with the government, churches and other businesses can contribute towards the idea in a positive way
by providing the finances, manpower and other resources to make the program a success.
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Statement of findings
From the data collected and analyzed a number of findings were obtained some of these findings include:
1. There are no community centers in the town of St. John
2. A majority of 60% of the respondents believe that community Centre are not beneficial to society.

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3. 90% of the respondents stated that for a community center to be beneficial there must be a well thought
out skills and development program incorporated into it. If this is done, then it can help curb the problem
of youths being engaged in negative activities.
4. Most of the respondents believe there should be no academic programed in the Centre, just skills based as
this would be too formal and act as a deterrent to the youths.

Implementation Strategy
1. Based on the data gathered and analyzed a recommendation was made in the form of incorporating an
academic program along with the skills program. This academic program can be implemented during
phase 2 or 3 assuming that the program is divided into stages as it progresses.
2. The academic program should start of at the basic level and should not be as formal as the secondary
school program volunteers and maybe retired teachers could be used for this aspect of the program
3. This is necessary to ensure that the participants are able to at least full out a basic form.

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Recommendation
Having come up with various findings from the study I would now offer some recommendations that can help make
community centers more beneficial to society.
Community centers have played a vital part in the life of many local communities and would still continue to play
whether their importance have been acknowledging or not. Based on the findings I would like to recommend that the
first people should be educated about the benefits of community centers. Studies have shown that people who
socialized in these settings have live fuller and longer lives. Also community centers can help foster cooperation and
harmony among all social classes in society. This in itself can help to ease some of the difficulties of slum life
because everyone come together to speak and lend support to each other, to discover social needs and meet them.
Secondly I would like to recommend that at least some form of academics programme be incorporated along with the
skills programme. The reason I recommend this is because in my opinion, the persons that we will be catering for
includes school drop outs, I am assuming that many of them cannot full out a basic form or count efficiently. As
such academics should be part of this programme, so that individuals can learn to do these basic things like full out a
form, sign their names and count their own money.
Finally I would like to recommend that something be done quickly to erect a community center in St. Johns as there
is none so far. The community, business, churches, and government should all play a part in helping to erect this
center, be it financial or manpower in its building and organizing.

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