Wednesday, October 14 2009

PETER O’NEIL, Chief Educa-tion Officer at the Education Ministry yesterday said the principal of St Joseph College in St Joseph “may have mis stepped” when he decided to call in the police who strip-searched pupils after a student claimed money was missing from her book bag.

Speaking with reporters at the formal handing over ceremony of the Tranquillity Government Primary School, O’Neil said he would not use the word “ illegal” to describe what happened.

A male policeman and a female police officer supervised the strip-search of 32 Form Five students in two rooms, one for males and the other for females, respectively last week Tuesday.

“We would have handled it differently, we believe the principal ought to have informed the parents of his likely action and so on, for example a crime is committed, we are dealing here with minors and therefore, by rights, the principal ought to inform the parents. There is a particular procedure to be followed,” O’Neil said.

O’Neil said the matter has since engage the attention of the ministry which is presently under investigations since “we would not want any recurrence naturally for instances like these, there are clear guidelines which principals are required to follow.”

O’Neil pointed out that no disciplinary action will be taken by the ministry toward the principal, since it is a private school. “That’s a matter for the Catholic Education Board of Manage-ment.”

Monsignor Cuthbert Alexander said the school is a Catholic school but was not affiliated with the Catholic Education Board of Management (CEBM) and all decisions will be made by the board of that school.