“A lot of people have been living in a fool’s paradise pretending all is well in the school system, but violence in schools have been this way for a very long time.”
This was the view of Devanand Sinanan, president of the T&T Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA). Sinanan was responding to the issue of a perceived spike in school violence.
Today on CNC3’s Morning Brew, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon admitted that he has now been made aware of the increase in violence in the school system.
He said the growing trend of videos of students fighting in schools being posted on social media has made him aware of the violence in schools.
Dillon said social media has brought the issue to the government’s attention.
He said his ministry must now deploy deterrents in high risks schools to mitigate school fighting.
With respect to a long-term plan, Dillon said there must be a collaborative effort between parents, teachers and the T&T Police Service to change the mindset of the school system.
“We have to get into their consciousness of what they are doing, what is good and what is bad. What are their value systems? I think you have to get into their value system and their spiritual consciousness, so you have to treat with the students, the parents and from my Ministry’s perspective, we have to look at how we can provide the kind of security required to act as a deterrent,” Dillon said.
However, Sinanan said not only has school violence been a persistant problem for decades, but TTUTA has been pleading for an education reform to find a way to solve that problem.
“There has always been school violence, but now social media is bringing it to the fore more than ever.
“I think the basic problem is that now it has been brought out in the open to the fore. A lot of people are expressing shock and disbelief, but you shouldn’t be if you are au courant with what is going on in society and in schools it certainly is not new,” he said.
Sinanan added since Trevor Oliver, former TTUTA president, who demitted office in 2004, teachers have been pleading for a change in the education system by having delinquent students removed from the schools and treated in a separate facility so they can have the care they need.
“Since Oliver we have been on record saying we need to remove students who have been showing extreme level of deviance and violent behaviour. We need to put them in institutions with serious interventions into behaviour modifications, and then the students are returned to a conventional school system.
“The conventional schools do not have the means to deal with that behaviour especially with the large number of students who need that treatment,” he said.
Questioned on the perception of a spike in violence in the schools, Sinanan said there was no empirical data to prove this.
He suggested that a survey be done to look at school records of fighting, and those who have been fighting and only then would there be a definitive answer to whether or not school violence has risen.
