The Ministry of Education is investigating a video posted on social media which has gone viral involving several students bullying another student at a prestige school in Diego Martin.
In two of the videos posted on social media, the student is seen shielding himself while several boys physically assault him.
In the second video, the same boy is heard screaming before he is taken and thrown into the school’s swimming pool.
No teachers were seen in the video.
Minister of State in the Ministry of Education Lovell Francis said the ministry was adopting zero tolerance to indiscipline in schools.
“We are very much against this kind of indiscipline and violence in the school. We are having a zero tolerance towards this and we would have it investigated,” he said.
Founder of Stop the Bullying, a page dedicated to eradicating bullying in schools on Facebook, Lana Maharaj-Boodoo, said the police needed to be active in engaging students at school.
“It (school indiscipline) is getting out of hand and suspension and expelling is not going to solve this problem.
“The Government needs to have a programme to deal with these children psychologically. They (bullies) need to stop beating people children. They are not punching bags,” she said.
Maharaj-Boodoo said she was very concerned since the student could have drowned.
“Just now we have to go to schools with a hearse. They did not know if he could swim. Suppose he drowned? The school thinking about their reputation but you have to think of the victim. You can’t just want to let your school have a good name and parents need to wake,” she said.
She said if children did not listen to their parents they should take them to the police.
“If you leave them they will become a problem for society. The ministry needs to get the police or army to visits schools once a month. To get some personnel to visit talk to them and educate them and find out what is their problem. Sometimes nobody knows not even the parent,” she said.
Attempts made to contact president of the T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) Lynsley Doodhai proved futile.