Recently, the Minister of Justice and Social Affairs, Rocco Tjon, met with academic researchers of the IPA and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, who will be executing the research called, Quality of life of the Aruban youth.
The minister believes in evidence-based policy. Therefore, the government will make a multi-annual policy plan based on the information collected through this research.
All the prep work for the research is in place and is now ready for execution. If everything goes according to plan, the goal is to complete the data collection by the summer of 2023 and then analyze it. The research will focus on the youth and Primary schools, MAVO, high-school, and schools for children with special needs.
The research is on:
The life quality of approximately 4600/5000 students of the 5th and 6th grades,
the mental health antecedent of the children’s family,
cultural antecedent,
social activities,
school environment,
bullying;
self-esteem;
and neighborhood elements linked to the project of Safe Barios.
The research also focuses on the children’s neighborhood:
The experience in their neighborhood;
what they miss in it;
what kind of developments they wish for it.
In addition, they will research two or three schools out of the eight districts in Aruba, where they will interview the school management and have 8 group sessions with parents in every district.
According to the Minister, this will be very holistic research and can count on the collaboration of the Ministry of Justice and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Sports.
