Padarath urges anti-bullying laws and...Put cops in every school

PRINCES TOWN MP Barry Padarath has urged that bullying could be curbed by new legislation and also by placing a police officer in every school.

Moving a private motion in the House of Representatives on November 22, he began by reading out accounts of parents' fears for their children at Pleasantville Government Secondary School amid claims that nine gangs operated there.

He said bullying has led to at least one death known to the public – that of schoolboy Jayden Lalchan, who died by suicide after being bullied incessantly.

Lalchan, 15, a Form Four student of St Stephen’s College, Princes Town, took his life on October 3, to end years of bullying. After his death, his parents complained about no follow-up to reports they had made each time he was picked on by his peers.

Padarath said Lalchan lived in his constituency.

Saying the police had remarked on a floodgate of bullying in the nation's schools, Padarath read a long list of news reports of recent cases. He said however much the Government wishes to downplay the issue, bullying is now at the forefront of people's minds.

Padarath cited a news report of eight-year-olds involved in extortion gangs operating in wider society, as recently revealed by a senior police officer. He accused Government of downplaying and being in denial over school bullying.

While "taxing" of pupils' lunch money has taken place in schools for decades, Padarath warned of a new dimension, in bullies now mirroring what they saw in wider society, seemingly referring to the prevalence of criminal acts of extortion.

He accused a minister of making light of his admonition, but said death had not yet reached that minister's door.

Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George reined him in.

Padarath replied, "I wish no one tragedy, but we must be sensitive."

Alleging he had got no response when he tried to contact Government after Lalchan's death, he accused Government of showing callousness and disrespect to opposition MPs, which he said was not surprising.

Padarath asked how many guidance officers are there in the 800 schools in TT. He asked if Government had a policy for handling incidents of violence, bullying, extortion and gang infiltration in schools. Did the Ministry of Education have a designated unit to deal with such offences?

Padarath wanted to know what guidelines teachers and school administrators had for notifying parents of bullies and summoning them into school.

He asked what psychometric approach the ministry had towards assessing the behaviour of troubled children who were bullying other pupils.

Padarath urged that the bachelor of education teacher training course should include a module on safety. He said Trinidad and Tobago is no longer a safe place and people are quite fearful.

Padarath said the police claimed they could not properly investigate Lalchan's death because the ministry had blocked access to them interviewing children and others. He promised a future UNC government would bring legislation specifically to deal with school bullying, to be named the Jayden Lalchan Anti-Bullying Act.

This legislation would specifically define terms like bullying, school violence and gang infiltration and state things like how affected schools could liaise with child protection agencies. While praising Canada and Australia for having good anti-bullying laws, he chided TT's MPs, whom he dubbed as "lazy legislators."

He wanted a police officer to be based in every school in the country, saying it was time to stop pussy-footing on the issue of school bullying.