CHARLES KONG SOO
Education Minister Anthony Garcia says corporal punishment is not part of the ministry’s plans.
He was speaking at the 2017 SEA Recognition Ceremony for the top 203 students at Napa, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
Garcia said “Within the last few days as we were discussing and debating the national Budget, one of the topics that was gaining public prominence was the area of corporal punishment. In all the newspapers there have been editorials, letters to the editor and comments about corporal punishment.
“I want to make it quite clear the Ministry of Education is not considering corporal punishment at this time.”
He said it was not on the ministry’s front burner, nor back burner and was nowhere in their thoughts and plans.
Garcia said he wanted to assure students, parents and the national community that the days of corporal punishment were way behind them and they must forge ahead.
He also assured that the ministry had put things in place to ensure that the nation’s students were safe and well taken care of.