Education Minister: Negligent Parents Remember Your Responsibilities

The male student from Tivoli High seen fighting a teacher on video has since been charged with physical assault. Video of the altercation on Monday has been making rounds on social media. The incident has also left many stakeholders in the education sector outraged.

Reports indicate that while the class was in session, the student entered the classroom boisterously and was disruptive. The teacher allegedly asked him to leave but he refused. This then led to a physical confrontation causing bruises and swelling to the teacher’s face, upper body, and breast. CVM LIVE understands the student was detained and charged with assault occasioning bodily harm and is to appear in court next week.

Amid the intervention and behavioral programs implemented by the Ministry of Education, Minister Fayval Williams in a release appealed to the education sector to double the efforts to curb anti-social and maladaptive behaviour by some students, parents, and others. She says the ministry is very concerned about videos being circulated on social media from time to time depicting students being very aggressive with each other. This behavior she notes is unacceptable.

Minister Williams also says, the videos highlight the need for a radical shift in creating respectful relationships between teachers and students, parents and children, students and students, and with others with whom they interact during the course of the day.

She is also urging negligent parents to remember their responsibilities for their children and for schools to utilize the ministry’s training for guidance counselors, and deans of discipline and for all teachers to become familiar with restorative justice.