00:00The National Parent Teachers Association is sounding the alarm over what it describes
00:06as a dangerous escalation of violence in schools and a troubling lack of action to address it.
00:13President Walter Stewart says the Association's greatest concern is the silence and inaction
00:19from key authorities, even as violent incidents continue to rise. He fears the situation is fast
00:27becoming untenable. Stewart is backing the Prime Minister's call for stricter disciplinary measures
00:34including suspension and the involvement of law enforcement where necessary. He believes the time
00:40for hesitation has passed. They understand that they can't do me anything, literally. I have coined
00:48the acronym SEA, suspend, expel and arrest because that is what our students need in order to
00:57jolt them into the reality that school violence, school indiscipline cannot be business as usual.
01:04It cannot continue ad nauseum. Stewart says the Association is guided by the National
01:10Disciplinary Matrix, which was revised in 2022 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. He believes that if
01:18the ministry is prepared to fully implement the framework, it could lead to a meaningful shift
01:24in student behavior. There has to be act behind the policy document. So I think if the government
01:31through the Ministry of Education is willing to enforce the policy, revised policy, let me use that
01:37terminology, yesterday and of course bring all the stakeholders together in order to come up with the
01:42best fit at this time and of course object to tweaking from time to time, we should see some
01:48mitigation, some reduction in the level of crime, the aggression and the rapidity at which the
01:55frequency at which these school violence take place. Lamenting the escalating school violence,
02:01the NPTA head is raising concern over its continued exclusion from high level talks. While the education
02:09minister has met with other stakeholders in recent weeks, the association is questioning why it has not
02:15yet been invited to the table. Stewart says the crisis demands all hands on deck, adding that the NPTA
02:22stands ready to meet with the minister immediately to address this growing problem at the nation's schools.
02:29And we wonder when he's going to meet with the National Council of Parent Teacher Association. I want to
02:36posit that the parents are, in my humble view, the main stakeholder in the business of education. If there are
02:46no students, children that we produce, there'll be no need for teachers, educators, administration, etc. So we wait
02:55anxiously with bated breath for the time and the minister would invite us to a meeting. However, the
03:00association president warns that punishment alone won't solve the problem. Stewart stresses that any
03:07firm response must be balanced with meaningful support for students. We have to now merge the punitive
03:15action with restorative action as well. So you can't leave them up to the wolves as it were, imprison them
03:22or my lap as the case might be. Because we have to now understand, Marlon, that they are root causes to the
03:28behavior of our students. They didn't wake up on a Thursday morning and begin to lash out. Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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