The Ministry of Education says it is very concerned about the brutality that was displayed in last week's viral video in which a group of female students of the El Dorado West Secondary School were seen beating a lone female student attending the same school.
Speaking on the issue yesterday during a scholarship seminar at the University of T&T, Arima Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Dr Lovell Francis, said while the school had since introduced "corrective measures" in the matter, the ministry wanted to ensure this type of incident did not recur.
Francis said Education Minister, Anthony Garcia, wanted to meet with school officials, the students and their parents to discuss the matter in its entirety. Contacted yesterday, Garcia was unable to say when the meeting would take place but he promised the matter would be dealt with soon.
Boasting that El Dorado West Secondary was "one of the better functioning government schools that continued to do very well academically," Francis offered a possible explanation as he said, "It is an isolated incident which does not necessarily reflect what the school is about."
He said the ministry of hoping to meet on the matter before the week's end. Garcia last week said he was not adverse to expelling students if necessary.
The two-minute, four -second video reportedly filmed on October 26, captured the victim being threatened and pushed before the group of female students punch, kick and verbally abuse her. After, the victim is kicked in the head by one of the attackers.
It is alleged that all of the students involved are in Form Four, and following the incident, ten students were suspended.
The victim was said to have returned to school after being treated for soft tissue damage. She was also said to be receiving counselling.