Extra police patrols began at several priority schools today - a measure the Ministry of Education says is intended to strengthen safety, and reassure the school communities that student welfare remains the Ministry's highest priority.
00:00Top of the news, extra police patrols began at several priority schools today.
00:05A measure, the Education Ministry says, is intended to strengthen safety and reassure the school communities
00:12that students' welfare remains the ministry's highest priority.
00:16It comes following the latest viral violent school incident involving students of the Barataria North Secondary School,
00:24which the ministry is now investigating.
00:26The ministry says while it continues to verify the details of these reports,
00:31proactive measures have already been implemented to maintain a safe and conducive learning environment.
00:38These include increased collaboration with the T&T Police Service,
00:42the deployment of additional school health, safety and security officers,
00:47and ongoing counselling and mediation interventions through the SSSD.
00:52The ministry encourages members of the public to refrain from sharing.
00:56unverified information and gives the assurance any confirmed developments will be communicated
01:03through official channels.
01:06Well, Walter Stewart, President of the National Parent Teachers Association,
01:11he joins us this evening.
01:12Mr. Stewart, thank you so much for on such short notice for agreeing to join us.
01:17My pleasure, and good evening to you and to your viewership.
01:23All right, Mr. Stewart.
01:24You, of course, heard our top story.
01:26Your thoughts on this move.
01:27This, of course, ups the ante.
01:31It's an addition to police officers being stationed in schools from September this year.
01:35And we certainly want to applaud and endorse this additional initiative.
01:42We are on record as endorsing the SOPU, School-Oriented Police Unit Initiative by the CTPS and the Municipal Education.
01:51And this additional layer, where there will now be foot static and mobile patrol in and around our schools,
01:59we fully endorse this initiative.
02:01Anything and everything, any measure and every measure that is going to assure us as parents,
02:08that our students and, by extension, our teachers are safe and our learning institutions remain doing the piece,
02:15we fully endorse and we fully applaud those who are responsible for putting this additional layer in place.
02:21We fully applaud this additional initiative.
02:24Okay, so you fully endorse it.
02:26Now, if you could share it with us, the feedback from parents following, first, the implementation in September
02:33and this further initiative being announced today.
02:36We know, of course, in some quarters, some persons have been saying that, you know,
02:40police officers are not suited for schools, especially precepted officers.
02:48They are not suited for schools.
02:49Your thoughts on this and, of course, the feedback we are interested in from parents.
02:56Are all behind this move or do some have reservations and what are these reservations?
03:02Listen, like in any new initiative, there are always going to be the pros and the thorns.
03:08But the vast majority of our parents who realize that this is going to give us the assurance that we need
03:15that our students are safe and well protected, they are on board with the police and they fully endorse this initiative.
03:24I want to remind the nation's citizens that there were 21,000 suspensions in our schools post-COVID April 22 up until 2025.
03:36And this cannot continue elevated, there has to be measures put in place in order to ensure that we can curb the level of violence taking place in our schools.
03:48And as such, if this is going to be able to reduce what is taking place in our schools, we have to endorse and go along with it.
03:55While the incidence has decreased, we see that, Mr. Stewart, it has not been eliminated completely recently.
04:04There was the fight at the Barataria North Secondary School, which went viral.
04:09Why are these measures working to deter some students but not all?
04:14Listen, war was not finished in a day and we would be naive to think that two months into a program that school violence would be eradicated.
04:27We have seen a reduction, not at the level at which we anticipated, but we have seen a reduction in school violence and school indiscipline two months into the program.
04:37And we are assured, based upon what we are seeing in front of us, that by the end of this term, certainly by the end of the second term, and more so by the end of the third term,
04:48there is going to be a drastic reduction in school indiscipline and school violence in our nation's schools.
04:55Mr. Stewart, are there any additional layers or measures your organization would like to see, you know, in the effort to completely eliminate school violence?
05:05Well, we have been advocating ad nauseum the strengthening or the looking at early screening for our children.
05:16And I made reference on several occasions to the PIRL project, which of course is supposed to be coming on board very soon in this fiscal.
05:24And we want to, in addition to the PIRL project, include in that school economic situation, taking physical students.
05:32So it has to be early intervention, early screening from the get-go.
05:37As soon as the child enters infants, age four o'clock into five, there has to be early screening, looking into the socioeconomic circumstances as well of the child,
05:48following the child into the home and into the community.
05:50Because certainly there is a root cause to this situation, and it's only by us getting into the homes and communities that we can realize what is taking place,
06:00and help the child and the children by extension to be able to come out of this situation that they are facing,
06:08relevant to the school economic situation that they are facing.
06:10Again, the churches, the masquerade, they also have a role to play.
06:15This is not the duty only of CDPS and the government.
06:18This is the all-of-nation approach in order to address, in a proper manner, what is taking place in our schools.
06:26We have to all get on board with this initiative.
06:30Mr. Stewart, and, you know, I did mention the complete elimination of school violence.
06:35Is that an ideal? Can that be attained? Your thoughts?
06:40Listen, from since I have been going to school several decades ago, there were school fights.
06:47And it is not going to eradicate, eliminate what is taking place in our schools.
06:52There are still going to be infractions.
06:55We are hoping in the minority, but there will never be an eradication.
07:00It's not a crime. There's never going to be an eradication of crime, but we hope and pray that there's going to be a drastic reduction.
07:06It's a level of crime, level of school discipline, level of school violence in and around our nation too.
07:13Mr. Stewart, let me thank you so much again for agreeing to join us on such short notice and, of course, sharing your views.
07:19All the best to you.
07:20My pleasure. Thank you.
07:21Well, that takes us to our People Meter.
07:24The TV6 People Meter, brought to you by XL Health TT, the official supplements of the CPS.
07:32We ask, do you believe that increasing police patrols at priority schools will curb school violence?
07:39To vote text yes or no to the number 766-4886 or 766-4TV6, we'll have the results for you at the end of the newscast.
Be the first to comment