Gadsby-Dolly: Ministry acting against bullying

EDUCATION Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly insists her ministry has acted firmly against bullies, with a recent tripling in the number of expulsions from schools, and also against the causes of bullying.

Speaking against the Opposition's private motion moved by Princes Town MP Barry Padarath on November 22, she said Trinidad and Tobago was praised at international conferences for its work in education. She said people should not sell the country short or portray it as heading to hell in a hand-basket.

Gadsby-Dolly claimed that bullies were "a very small minority," in the school system albeit a loud minority. "The majority of our children are doing good things."

She hoped for more attention on "the vast majority" of pupils doing good rather than a focus on wrongdoers whose ranks could thereby swell.

The minister listed typical traits of bullies.

They include coming from backgrounds of low academic performance, broken homes, dysfunctional families, suffering trauma, carrying deep anger and being non-involved in extracurricular activities. She said the ministry has been collecting data on what is happening and when.

The number of pupils needing help from her ministry's Student Support Services Division has risen exponentially, "That is why we must deal with the root causes."

Gadsby-Dolly said post-covid, in 2022, her ministry hired 80 more school social workers and 40 more guidance counsellors, to help in some 106 schools of focus. "(We are) not hiding head in sand!"

Earlier, Minister in the Ministry of Education Lisa Morris-Julian told the House the total complement, in all schools, was 227 social workers and 282 guidance officers, roughly 500 professionals in all.

Gadsby-Dolly said, "We face the situation – identified the schools that have the problems and have been putting resources to help."

She said the Student Support Services Division has 800 staff members. "That is bigger than some ministries!"

Saying the ministry was dealing with root causes of bullying, she said they were reducing the number of bullies and providing bullies more help to change their behaviour.

After a 2022 meeting of the ministry with agencies like the TT Unified Teachers Association, the National Parent Teachers Association, the Children's Authority and the police, the student discipline matrix was revised to identify bullying as a major infarction.

Gadsby-Dolly said expelled pupils were not just left to their own devices, but the ministry had agreements with the state's Milat (military-led academic training programe) and Servol by which these youths can get help in behavioural transformation.

"You can't keep them in the mainstream system if, despite everything, they are not conforming because there are other children to be considered."

She said errant pupils are first treated by an expulsion warning system involving home visits by social workers, and pupils having to sign a contract of good behaviour.

"We don't want to throw them out but must maintain a safe school environment." Rejecting Padarath's motion, Gadsby-Dolly said systems and policies are in place and are being enforced.

Gadsby-Dolly said many errant pupils were low-performing and so were disengaged at school and found other things to do.

She said low-performing pupils were helped in Form One through a vacation remedial programme, by teachers being trained in remedial subjects and by school visitors in a volunteer youth mentorship programme. Some 80 schools-of-focus offered pupils after-school tuition.

These schools also have amended curricula for Forms One and Two to focus on numeracy and literacy. She justified these measures by saying that otherwise low-performing pupils might engage in deviant behaviour to "shore up themselves" and "have some confidence in themselves."

She saw positive results from remedial help when 4,000 low-performing pupils – scoring less than 50 per cent – at the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) Exam, went on to write a Lower Secondary Proficiency Exam in Form Two. Some 52 per cent increased their grade in English Language Arts Writing (that is, essay-writing), 44 per cent better themselves in Mathematics, and a whopping 89 per cent scored higher in English Language Arts, Gadsby-Dolly said.

While TT has compulsory schooling up to age 16 years, she hoped that even those pupils dropping out would gain certification to at least match the requirements for the lowest level of the Public Service.

Gadsby-Dolly said almost all pupils in the 80 schools of focus have had their eyes tested, with more than 350 pairs of spectacles distributed free of charge, in a partnership with the TT Manufacturers Association and Unicef. She said this measure helped pupils stay engaged with their school work.

Citing the adage, Hurt people hurt people, she said the ministry was not just about punishing pupils.

"Bullies are hurt children many times, dealing with anger.

"If you see the issues these children face. Many of them are children of parents who have died violent deaths.

"And they seem almost unable, some of them, to restrain themselves, no matter how much they may want to."

Gadsby-Dolly urged adults to show a good example to children watching them. "So adults, stop sharing fight videos.

"Let us stop sharing fake news, violence. Share positive news as well."