CARICOM bodies to address violence in schools

Oct 25, 2019 News

Several bodies in the regional education system are meeting at the Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara CARICOM facility to address avenues to address violence which is said to be increasing in schools around the Caribbean.
Stakeholders are meeting at the 38th meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) on Education at which the discussions are being tabled.
At the forum, CARICOM Secretary General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, said that it is of vital importance that safe and healthy school atmospheres are created in addressing this issue.
He added that this will protect children from exposure to threats, weapons, substance abuse and other related matters associated with violence at the school level. He explained that data on school-based violence indicates that is on the increase at the primary and secondary school levels, emphasising that its presence can lead to poor attendance, decline in performance, high drop-out levels and decreased academic attainment.
This, he noted, can impact negatively on sustained academic development at a regional level.
As a result the COHSOD forum will examine results from three strategies to be implemented to address school based violence. The body will look at improving school environment, building on social and life skills at a student level, and even among their peers and relatives.
This comes just after the incident where two female students of the Tagore Memorial Secondary School on the Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) were videotaped in a violent fight just recently.
In this incident, one girl was badly beaten and stripped of her religious headwear during the incident. Footage of the incident suggests that the aggressor had attempted to strip the other girl of her school uniform as well.
Back in March this year as well, also in Berbice, a video had surfaced with a student of the New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) beating three of his schoolmates with a belt in a classroom, while in separate incidents, other students became hospitalised from stab wounds sustained in fights at various academic institutions.

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