I sometimes cut out articles that I find newsworthy with the intention of writing a future column. For some time now, I have been compiling a file with clippings about violence and indiscipline in our schools.
I keep ignoring it but it has grown so thick and I am so frustrated with the indifference and lack of urgency by the government that I feel compelled to remind readers about the sad state of the next generation. Discussions on the terrifying crime crisis tend to focus on the murder statistics and sense of insecurity and helplessness we all feel. No one realises that one of the social consequences of this criminal culture of lawlessness is the creation of an entire generation of youths that will form the next wave of criminals. When a man or woman is murdered, the limited statistic doesn’t reveal the true extent of the injury done to society as a whole. Children are left fatherless or motherless and will grow up aimlessly drifting, without direction and purpose. They will be fed into the same failed system because they are fatherless and the government seems clueless.
In the absence of a proper safety net from the state, they will be lured into a life of crime. A gang becomes the substitute family as the poor souls are befriended by people who come from a similar situation and know how to struggle and survive in an uncaring world. They turn on the very society that allowed their father or mother to be murdered and then turned its back on them. This column is an urgent SOS to PM Manning. We are in crisis mode and the issue of school violence must be a top priority for the government alongside crime and health. Last month, officials from the Ministry of Education said violence in schools is a ‘relatively rare event’. This demonstrates the under-estimation of the problem. Most articles end with the following incomprehensible statement: “Corporate Communications Manager of the Ministry of Education could not be reached for comment as he did not answer his cellular or office phones.”
To illustrate the state of emergency, I shall quote from a few articles in the past month alone:
“Police continued a lockdown at the Moruga Secondary School yesterday following a brutal gang fight last Friday which left a student hospitalised. Amateur footage of the fight showed eight girls attacking each other outside the school compound. They were recorded on a phone camera as they kicked, cuffed and dragged each other. One girl was seen stamping the face of another girl who lay on the ground with her skirt pulled up to her knees.”
Guardian, Feb 3rd. Lockdown after gang fight at Moruga Sec.
“TTUTA President Roustan Job yesterday called for more stringent measures to be implemented at the nation’s schools to ensure the safety of pupils and teachers. He made the comment after learning of the latest incidence of school violence, a fight among pupils at the Blanchisseuse High School on the school’s compound yesterday morning where police eventually had to be called in. Job said when he contacted officials at the school, he was told the pupils were armed with stones, bottles and one of them was also wielding a cutlass. He said teachers attempted to quell the fight but later had to resort to calling the police when one of them spotted the pupil with the cutlass.”
Trinidad Express, January 29th, 2010
“Stabbing victim Shivana Mata was discharged yesterday morning from the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope after a sleepless night. She was being treated for the 15 wounds she received during a fight with another girl at the St Augustine Secondary School on Wednesday afternoon.
Police said Mata, 15, and the other girl, 14, got into a fight in the science lab when the latter pulled out a knife and stabbed Mata about the body, including her chest and back. The St Joseph police were called but before they arrived, Mata was taken to hospital. The other girl was taken into police custody.”
Trinidad Express: Sleepless night for Shivana after stabbing January 29th 2010
“Eight teachers of the Nelson Street Girls’ RC School in Port-of-Spain walked off the job shortly after lunch yesterday, leaving several classes unattended for the afternoon period. A source at the school said the incident was triggered when a suspended pupil returned to the school."
Trinidad Express: Nelson St teachers walk off Thursday, January 28th 2010
In one month, in a new year, this is the sad state of our school system. No one seems to care. The Ministry reacts and keeps trying to out fires as and when they occur but a comprehensive and holistic solution is badly needed if we are to save the next generation. Knives and guns instead of books are inside their schoolbags. These are the future leaders of tomorrow courtesy the leaders of today.
By Anand Ramlogan