JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Government to expel and prosecute violent students

by

Chester Sambrano
16 days ago
20250605
A teacher and a male student of the Moruga Secondary School in a fight on the school compound

A teacher and a male student of the Moruga Secondary School in a fight on the school compound

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has con­demned the lat­est in­ci­dent of school vi­o­lence, in which five stu­dents were im­pli­cat­ed in a bru­tal and pre­med­i­tat­ed at­tack on a school­mate. The as­sault, which oc­curred on Tues­day, 3 June 2025, took place in­side a school bath­room and was filmed by by­standers.

The vic­tim, a teenage girl, re­mains hos­pi­talised with se­vere in­juries, in­clud­ing a frac­tured nose, bro­ken tooth, blood clots in the eyes, and mul­ti­ple bruis­es across her body. Ac­cord­ing to re­ports, video footage cap­tured three girls am­bush­ing and beat­ing the vic­tim, while oth­er stu­dents stood by and filmed. One at­tack­er was seen de­liv­er­ing two force­ful kicks to the vic­tim’s face, leav­ing her bleed­ing. Clumps of her hair were lat­er found on the bath­room floor.

“School vi­o­lence, an­oth­er is­sue again, yet again,” the Prime Min­is­ter re­marked at the Post Cab­i­net News Con­fer­ence.

She con­firmed that on Wednes­day, 4 June, the three at­tack­ers and their par­ents were sum­moned to the school, and the stu­dents now face sus­pen­sion. “Now, I will speak to the min­is­ter af­ter we get a full re­port,” she added.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar sig­nalled an im­me­di­ate shift in gov­ern­ment pol­i­cy on school vi­o­lence. “I think every­body’s fed up with the dai­ly dose of school vi­o­lence. You send your chil­dren to school and you want them to be safe. Go­ing for­ward, we will treat every oc­cur­rence of as­sault or bat­tery as an ex­pellable of­fence in schools and an ar­restable of­fence to put be­fore the courts.”

She is­sued a stern warn­ing to both par­ents and stu­dents: “If your child as­saults or bat­ters an­oth­er child in school, they will be ex­pelled and will face the full brunt of the law. They will be ar­rest­ed.”

While af­firm­ing the need to pro­tect well-be­haved stu­dents, the Prime Min­is­ter said her Gov­ern­ment will al­so con­sid­er spaces where of­fend­ing chil­dren can be “prop­er­ly coun­selled and nur­tured,” but they can­not re­main in schools if they pose a threat to oth­ers.

“If some­one is 15 years old and robs or as­saults you, they are ar­rest­ed. But if they do the same thing in a school uni­form, they are get­ting a free pass. It doesn’t make sense that the school uni­form is a li­cence to break the law. This must stop,” she said.

She al­so an­nounced that all acts of school vi­o­lence will now be re­ferred to the po­lice for crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion. “Par­ents need to take re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for their chil­dren’s be­hav­iour. If they can’t train them to prop­er­ly be­have in school, then let them stay home. We will look for spaces to nur­ture and help them live in a man­age­able way.”

Ad­dress­ing threats and at­tacks on ed­u­ca­tors, the Prime Min­is­ter de­clared: “If any par­ent or stu­dent as­saults or threat­ens a prin­ci­pal or a teacher, that child will be ex­pelled. We are fed up of see­ing our prin­ci­pals and teach­ers abused and threat­ened by both stu­dents and the par­ents of some stu­dents. We will en­force ex­pul­sion rules to the max­i­mum.”

She con­firmed that stu­dents who film or en­cour­age vi­o­lent acts will al­so face con­se­quences. “All stu­dents caught in videos cheer­ing and clap­ping and egging on the vi­o­lence will be sus­pend­ed be­cause they’re al­so par­tic­i­pants.”

Call­ing for a col­lec­tive re­sponse, Per­sad-Bisses­sar urged all school staff and stu­dents to re­port vi­o­lent in­ci­dents to the po­lice. “It is time now where every act of school vi­o­lence be re­port­ed to the po­lice and that par­tic­i­pants face ex­pul­sion and pros­e­cu­tion in the courts,” she said.

Instagram


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

Success Laventille Secondary School principal Stacey Lezama alongside the volunteer representatives from Unicomer (Trinidad) Limited and United Way, who recently participated in a programme to improve the school's physical and learning environment.

Success Laventille Secondary School principal Stacey Lezama alongside the volunteer representatives from Unicomer (Trinidad) Limited and United Way, who recently participated in a programme to improve the school's physical and learning environment.

Photo courtesy:Cindy James

Success Laventille Secondary School principal Stacey Lezama alongside the volunteer representatives from Unicomer (Trinidad) Limited and United Way, who recently participated in a programme to improve the school's physical and learning environment.

Success Laventille Secondary School principal Stacey Lezama alongside the volunteer representatives from Unicomer (Trinidad) Limited and United Way, who recently participated in a programme to improve the school's physical and learning environment.

Photo courtesy:Cindy James

Unicomer invests in Laventille through Day of Caring

2 days ago
Artist Keith Mervyn Ward, left, shares a moment with Marika and Kathleen Richards and Sita and Lennox Sealy.

Artist Keith Mervyn Ward, left, shares a moment with Marika and Kathleen Richards and Sita and Lennox Sealy.

Photo courtesy Patricia Martin-Ward

Artist Keith Mervyn Ward, left, shares a moment with Marika and Kathleen Richards and Sita and Lennox Sealy.

Artist Keith Mervyn Ward, left, shares a moment with Marika and Kathleen Richards and Sita and Lennox Sealy.

Photo courtesy Patricia Martin-Ward

‘Tints Tones and Textures’ at Lloyd Best Institute

2 days ago
The Emancipation monument, designed and created by jeweler and designer Gillian Bishop, is located in front of the Treasury Building on Independence Square.

The Emancipation monument, designed and created by jeweler and designer Gillian Bishop, is located in front of the Treasury Building on Independence Square.

MARIELA BRUZUAL

The Emancipation monument, designed and created by jeweler and designer Gillian Bishop, is located in front of the Treasury Building on Independence Square.

The Emancipation monument, designed and created by jeweler and designer Gillian Bishop, is located in front of the Treasury Building on Independence Square.

MARIELA BRUZUAL

Public art in Port-of-Spain

2 days ago
Sundar and friends in a Barrackpore bar in one of the scenes in the play.

Sundar and friends in a Barrackpore bar in one of the scenes in the play.

Rishi Ragoonath

Sundar and friends in a Barrackpore bar in one of the scenes in the play.

Sundar and friends in a Barrackpore bar in one of the scenes in the play.

Rishi Ragoonath

Sundar — the story of a chutney legend on the Naparima stage

3 days ago