ESTER GO STRAIGHT HOMEBy Indarjit Seuraj Wednesday, November 25 2009
Concerned over the recent spate of school violence which culminated in the murders of two schoolboys in four days, Education Minister Esther Le Gendre yesterday unveiled a plan aimed at stopping students from liming after school.
“Children who are there and not ready to go home (after school is dismissed) will find themselves in all kinds of mischief,” Le Gendre said.
Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) buses will be deployed to the El Dorado West and East Secondary Schools to transport students away from the vicinity of the schools, following violent clashes among students last week. Several students have since been suspended.
This is but one measure to be implemented to combat student violence rapidly spreading across schools in the east-west corridor.
According to the minister, research has shown that a main contributor to school violence was after-school traffic along the Eastern Main Road.
She explained that a large congregation of students from different schools is a recipe for disaster.
Le Gendre met yesterday with education stakeholders including the principals of the two students involved in Monday’s stabbing death of 18-year-old Dillon Griffith, a student of St Augustine Secondary Comprehensive School. He was allegedly attacked by two students of St Joseph’s College near a playing field in St Joseph, at about 2.30 pm.
Also meeting with the minister were officials from the National Security Ministry, National Maintenance Training and Security (MTS) and the National Parent Teachers Association (NPTA).
Following the meeting, the ministry also drafted a proposal to invite NGOs to establish “time out” centres for delinquent students.
These centres, Le Gendre said, would be set up at the schools and programmes would be available for students on suspension, offering “psycho support” for these troubled students.
She said funding for the programme was approved by Cabinet, but she could not divulge an exact figure.
The ministry called the meeting following the recent escalation of violence at the El Dorado schools, as well as the murder of Griffith and the killing of Barataria North Secondary School student Malik Hillaire, on Friday. Hillaire was allegedly stabbed to death by two students of Malick Secondary School.
A third murdered student, Darrion Callender-Duncan, 15, was stabbed and stoned to death following an Intercol football game at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella, on October 23.
“Although these incidents occurred outside the school, we feel a deep sense of responsibility,” Le Gendre said.
She said the ministry was seeking to expand the scanners already implemented in over 30 schools, noting that this measure has been “successful” in reducing the number of weapons brought into the schools.
According to Steve Williams, director of Student Support Services, the ministry has embarked on a study using 25 schools who volunteered for the research.
The study, he said, is aimed at monitoring school violence and its root cause.
Le Gendre added that this research is vital in “reviewing and strengthening” already existing policies for dealing with school violence.
She noted that there was a greater need for parents to get involved and work together with teachers to correct the problem.
“Parents hold a large part of the solution to the issues we face,” she said.
She noted that the study has shown the presence of gangs in schools, but with the influence of gangs in communities close to the schools.
