Investigations ongoing in clouting incident

Investigations are still continuing into the matter involving a school safety officer who clouted two male students who were fighting at the San Juan North Secondary in May.

The safety officer called on the students to stop and was ignored so he hit each boy on the back of his head and the fight stopped. On Wednesday, Newsday published a story in which the safety officer said he is not in favour of corporal punishment, but had to make a split-second decision on how to intervene, bearing in mind that one of the boys had a piece of metal he could have used as a weapon.

The Ministry of Education received reports from the safety officer and acting principal Cheryl Dyer on Tuesday. A ministry official explained that Education Minister Anthony Garcia, Chief Education Officer Harrilal Seecharan, a permanent secretary and members of the School Supervision Division would all have to be involved in the investigation process. National Parent Teacher Association president Zena Ramatali refrained from comment saying she would wait to see the outcome from the ministry.

Lynsley Doodhai, president of the TT Unified Teachers Association, said while corporal punishment was against the Children’s Act, he did not know all the facts of the situation and did not want to pass any judgement, cast blame or make assertions.

“If we are to discipline students, it must be done within the ambit of what the law allows,” he said. “If the law forbids the use of corporal punishment on students then it should be so... However, sometimes force may be necessary if a teacher’s safety is threatened.”

He said options were very limited with respect to teachers disciplining students and he felt the Ministry of Education should host workshops to empower teachers in this regard.

Doodhai said when incidents like these happen, teachers get the blame and not the misbehaving children.

“I think parenting has fallen down over the years. While anyone could be a mother or father, it takes special skills to be a good parent to instil good morals and values in their children.