SUBJECT Minister Priya Manickchand has said that the Education Ministry is currently looking at various measures to employ to deal with violence in schools, both against teachers and amongst students.

She made this disclosure in a media interview at the Umana Yana in Kingstown, Georgetown last Friday, on the occasion of celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC), when she said the ministry views violence in schools as a very serious issue, and would be announcing very shortly the measures it would put in place to deal with this issue condignly.
“We are looking at various measures that can be employed, and we’ll announce those shortly,” the minister announced.
On February 4, last, 25-year-old Michelle Richards, a teacher of Wisburg Secondary in Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice), was rushed to the Mackenzie Hospital with a fractured skull after a table top landed on her head when she had walked into a trap set by students.
In the wake of that incident, teachers in Linden held a rally on Tuesday, March 19, to raise awareness about the violence being meted out against them within their schools.
Over the past few months, there has also been a spate of violence amongst students in schools, and this has seen a number of students being seriously injured, while some have even lost their lives.
One such incident occurred in January, when Shane Hackett, 13, a Form 2 student of Dolphin Government Secondary, was stabbed in the back during an altercation with another boy at school.
Another occurred in early February when 13-year-old Neil Miggins, a first form student of Patentia Secondary School, was stabbed in the head by a fifth former after he had accidentally bumped into the older student while running down the school stairs.
And Joshua Hubbard, a Grade 3 pupil of St. Margaret’s Primary School, lost his life after he was pushed down the school stairs because he had refused to surrender to another boy the rose he had bought for his mother on Valentine’s Day.