00:00It is unfortunate that that has happened, and as I said earlier, it's just a handful of students who are
00:05behaving in that manner.
00:07What I would want to say to those students and to the wider public of Tobago is that this Division
00:11of Education will have a zero tolerance approach to that kind of behaviour.
00:15We cannot have a minority of persons disrupting life for the others who are willing to comply and behave themselves
00:21in the way that they are supposed to.
00:23So we are going to adopt a zero tolerance approach to that kind of behaviour.
00:26Do you think the Education Division will investigate?
00:29Of course it is being investigated by the school supervisor, and very soon I will get a report in terms
00:34of what would have transpired.
00:36We are going to look at it, we are going to deal with the persons who are involved,
00:39but more than that we have a bigger programme in terms of trying to treat this kind of behaviour in
00:44our schools in Tobago.
00:45Two videos surfaced yesterday, one with two girls of Scarborough Secondary School fighting,
00:51and another video outside the Scarborough Secondary School showing a disturbance involving students and outsiders of the school.
00:59Secretary Kerr said only a small number of troublemakers within the education system are of concern.
01:07We have a small number of students who are behaving deviant and giving, you know, a little chocolate and so
01:13on.
01:13And we would want to ensure that the children who are there, who are going there and learning and behaving
01:18themselves, that they are safe.
01:19So I think it's a temporary measure, but we intend to look at it and to come up with more
01:24permanent solutions to these diseases.
01:26As for the police and school initiative, Kerr said it is being evaluated by the Division of Education.
01:33I think that at this time it's a shorter measure that we would want to continue until we are able
01:38to put something more long-term in place.
01:41I have not been able to evaluate the programme in Tobago as yet, but it is something that I intend
01:46to look at and to see how well things begin.
01:47Because at least for now, we need to ensure that the students who are there are safe.
01:54Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
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