Reconsider readmission ban

ACCORDING to Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, the Minister of Education, the State’s policy on the readmission of expelled students is clear.

“Students are not readmitted to public schools after expulsion but are still eligible to partake in all free training programmes offered by different arms of government,” she said. “The issue of readmission would require a policy change which has not been considered at this time.”

The minister was not commenting on any specific case, but she was questioned in the wake of a viral video of a student verbally abusing a teacher in a classroom. That student was expelled last month.

Cases of expulsion are, unfortunately, not infrequent within our school system, though the circumstances of each may be unique. The frequency of this penalty, however, is such that it is worth reconsidering the policy of readmission as outlined by the minister.

That policy seems well-justified solely on the ground that it is meant to be taken seriously by a student and their parents. Expulsion is expulsion. If there is any lesson students should be taught it is that their actions can have irreversible consequences.

Expulsion is a penalty reserved for the most severe offences. Under the Ministry of Education’s school discipline matrix, it is only meant to be used in cases involving things like assault, arson, possession of weapons, harassment and similarly serious misconduct. It is also a last resort in cases where there have been prior, albeit less serious, offences and in which the student shows no signs of improvement.

Additionally, there’s a strong practical reason why a student who has committed a grave offence should not be allowed to return. Very often there is an identifiable victim involved, normally a fellow student, whose interests would not be served if the assailant were to be allowed to return.

But should a student who has not caused physical harm still be banned from readmission to the school system if there is good evidence to suggest they have been rehabilitated?

In some cases, there has been no prior offence committed because the offending conduct was serious enough to go straight to expulsion. Further, the Supreme Court has, on occasion, been asked to overrule expulsion orders because the students involved had been subject to bullying and were victims themselves.

Meanwhile, in the years after the covid19 pandemic, approximately 2,000 students dropped out of school. Increasingly, examination officials say absenteeism has become a problem. Expelled students are at risk of falling through the cracks like so many of these students. That is why stakeholders like Hanif Benjamin, the former chairman of the Children’s Authority, do not believe in expulsion.

There should not be a universal policy. There are some cases where readmission should be carefully weighed if only to keep certain categories of minors within the fold.