The Ministry of Education says it will act on any information brought to its attention as it relates to school violence and bullying.
Speaking briefly in a telephone yesterday, Education Minister Anthony Garcia expressed concern over the posting of online videos on social media, which depicted incidents of violence.
In the latest video posted to Facebook on Tuesday a male student from a secondary school in north Trinidad was seen slapping a younger boy in a classroom several times, while shouting obscenities and racial slurs at him.
The video was filmed by another student, while other students could be seen looking on.
Pressed to say what was the ministry’s policy regarding violence and bullying, Garcia said school principals had the authority to suspend students believed to be involved in such incidents.
Revealing that his ministry will soon host a national consultation, which will focus primarily on the syllabus and school discipline, Garcia said school supervisors also were assigned to each school, as part of the support mechanism to principals.
Garcia explained it was their responsibility to liaise with officials to ensure the smooth operation of the respective school.
Admitting that once an incident occurred the school first had to do its own investigation, Garcia said deans also were identified at each school to support the efforts of the principal to enforce discipline and the code of conduct.
Referring to the Education Act which empowers principals to suspend students “who go overboard,” Garcia said once a student/students were determined as the cause of injury/harm to others, they had the authority to suspend the child/children for a maximum of seven days.
He added: “If the situation was grave enough, principals can also apply to the ministry for an extension of the suspension.”
At least three new videos were posted to Facebook yesterday, showing students (both male and female), engaged in similar activities.