PTA: School bullying a 'serious problem' in Tobago

President of the Tobago arm of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) Joseph Lindow has vowed to pay closer attention to the issue of school bullying across Tobago.

This comes on the heels of an allegation that faecal residue was thrown on a student's schoolbag at the Mason Hall Secondary School on October 3.

Speaking with Newsday on October 11, Lindow said he is still without the facts in the particular matter and as a result intends to meet with the principal on October 14.

“I have reached out to the principal to get to the root of this conversation because you know sometimes you hear different versions of what actually happened. The principal and I have a good relationship and I was there just the week before to do their (PTA) elections so I was surprised to see what transpired on the news.”

He said he has been receiving numerous reports of school bullying .

“I went to Tablepiece (Government Primary School) on Wednesday and a parent spoke to me about a similar incident which she said has been going on for almost a year, to the effect that her daughter didn’t go to school for a whole week because a child in her class was bullying her, so she was afraid of going back to classes.

"Then I went to another school yesterday (October 10) to do elections and another parent complained to me about the same issue. That tells me that this is a serious problem in Tobago with these types of activities in schools and something needs to be done urgently.”

He intends to have a conversation with the Secretary of Education on this issue.

“It is something that we’re working on as a PTA, to try to eradicate these types of activities in Tobago, but I don’t know if the powers that be are familiar or even aware of what is happening in some of the schools, but it seems as though something is growing in Tobago in terms of bullying.

"So as a PTA, we’re trying to see what we can do to eliminate some of those activities.”

He said the PTA has spoken to the police to get an idea of the extent of the problem.

“They are saying that parents should report it to the police when these sorts of activities take place, but in my view it shouldn’t reach to the police. I cannot understand how any student could be bullied in a class for a year and you have teachers teaching that class everyday. The teacher must be familiar with what is happening; I doubt that could happen in a class and the teacher doesn’t know, or even the principal.”

On October 8, TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Tobago officer Bradon Roberts told Newsday that the society is very hypocritical in its response to school indiscipline.

He said issues such as hairstyles may seem trivial but play a part in building school discipline.