Education Minister Anthony Garcia has described the beating of a male teacher at the Barataria South Secondary School by a student as “criminal behaviour” as he called on the police to take action against the perpetrator.
Garcia said any student who displays such violent behaviour should not be allowed in the school system.
His comments came two days after the teacher was beaten by a student after he tried to stop him from lighting scratch bombs at the school.
The teacher will undergo surgery at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital on Monday.
The student has since been suspended indefinitely and is likely to face expulsion by Garcia.
Yesterday, president of the T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) Lynsley Doodhai admitted that the teacher was admitted on Ward Three of the hospital “and is awaiting surgery on his kneecap which was severely injured.”
Though Doodhai expressed concern of the recent proliferation of scratch bomb incidents at schools, he said teachers have not boycotted classes.
Leading up to Divali, Doodhai said several teachers and students at Chaguanas North, Siparia and El Dorado Secondary Schools had to seek medical attention after scratch bombs were detonated on the schools’ compound.
Doodhai said a teacher of Chaguanas North suffered “partial loss of hearing in one ear,” while blood started oozing from the inner ear of an El Dorado Secondary teacher after a scratch bomb went off within close proximity of her.
Doodhai said there needs to be a greater clamping down by the police on the sale of the illegal items.
He said scratch bombs are brought into the schools by students who hide them in their “underwear and bras.”
The students also throw the scratch bombs over the school’s fences and retrieve them when they enter the compound.
“The students devise a lot of creative ways to get into the school. I have been saying students who set off scratch bombs in schools causing havoc, mayhem and chaos should be made an example of because they are engaging in criminal behaviour. We believe that these students should be prosecuted so other students would think before they act,” Doodhai said.
Doodhai said TTUTA would go all out to protect its teachers, stating if corrective action is not taken they would advise their members accordingly.
Condemning the attack on the Morning Brew programme, Garcia admitted that he had received a report on Thursday from the school’s principal.
He said the student was detonating the scratch bombs and when the teacher spoke to him about it, he ignored him.
In the teacher’s attempt to take the student to the principal’s office, Garcia the student became “violent” and “attacked the teacher.”
The police were called into the school.
Garcia said while there needs to be an investigation, he has instructed the principal to suspend the student and make a formal report to the police so action can be taken, stating that “criminal proceedings must be entered into.”
“I have also asked for an extension to the suspension,” Garcia said, which could be “indefinitely.”
Based on the outcome of the investigation, Garcia said if the student is found culpable, “I am going to take serious action which might include expulsion. I am not afraid to take that action.”
He said students must be held accountable for their irresponsible behaviours.
“If a student is so brave to attack a teacher...so violently, I don’t think there is space for that student in the school. When children behave like that they should not be referred to as children. That is criminal behaviour. That is behaviour that is usually associated with adults.”
Garcia said the time had come to send to send a strong message to students that expulsion was an option he can so exercise.