A total of 31 students attending the El Dorado East Secondary School have been identified as exhibiting undesirable behaviours such as gambling, smoking, drinking and “taxing” other students.
Although the Ministry of Education has decided not to remove the students from the school system, individual assessments will be done to determine what action is appropriate.
Seeking to understand why the students were misbehaving, the ministry invited the parents of the 31 students to attend a meeting yesterday but were disappointed when less than half, only 13 parents, turned up.
Nevertheless, officials including Education Minister Anthony Garcia; Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Dr Lovell Francis; Chief Education Officer Harrillal Seecharan; president of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association Devanand Sinanan; president of the National Parent Teacher Association Zena Ramatali; ACP Port-of-Spain and Western Divisions, Carlisle Huggins; and Permanent Secretary Gillian Mc Intyre met with the small contingent of parents in what was described as a “heated” interaction. Addressing reporters at a media briefing at the Ministry of Education, St Clair, Garcia described the situation at this school as “different” from the situation at the Chaguanas North Secondary School.
He said the authorities had opted to speak with the parents first in this instance, “to hear their views before we decide what action we will take.”
Approximately 20 students were removed from the Chaguanas North Secondary School two weeks ago for unruly behaviour and indiscipline, and sent to the old Couva West Secondary School, where a programme is being conducted by the Student Support Services Division to rehabilitate them.
Providing an update, Seecharan said ten of the 20 students had been present yesterday and efforts were being made to have the remaining students attend the programme.
Garcia said the 13 parents who attended yesterday’s meeting acknowledged for the most part the infractions committed by their children. However, he stressed that schools must be safe for those occupying the premises and that learning must be done in an environment in which both teachers and students can function.
Voicing the intention to purge schools of all undesirable behaviour, Garcia said the Government intended to deliver quality education but could not effectively accomplish this when certain students were intent on disrupting operations and intimidated teachers were forced to hide in staff rooms.
Acknowledging the concerns by some parents that students registered to write the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exam would be affected, Garcia sought to reassure parents that all students would be given a fair chance to write their exams.
He said even though the behaviour of some students might necessitate their removal, they would be given an opportunity to sit exams.
Endorsing the ministry’s move to engage in dialogue first, Francis said the ministry would not abandon the students.
Calling for a “proper diagnostic” to be done on each student, Sinanan said the authorities needed to get to the root of what was causing them to act out.
He said while many of the parents were aware of the infractions committed by their children, they were upset over the ministry’s handling of the matter.
Urging the parents to partner with the authorities to rectify the situation, Sinanan said while no final decision had yet been made, he did not agree with the students being allowed back into the school system without the diagnostic being conducted.
Calling for a zero-tolerance approach to all unruly behaviour, Ramatali agreed that an assessment of each student was necessary.
Garcia has promised that the assessment exercise would be done before the end of this academic term, and he is confident that the system to be used to monitor the unruly students in the interim, will be successful.
Huggins said the police had already instituted patrols and would soon be introducing a liaison officer in each school, who would attend PTA meetings and consult with school authorities.