The Ministry of Education wishes to commend the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and by extention, Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith for upholding the commitment to strategic partnership in ensuring that there is safety, and further, accountability for actions in our schools.
Reference is made to the Princes Town West Secondary Students who have been charged with assault and released on bail. The Ministry of Education’s first priority to this nation is quality teaching and learning in all schools however, understanding that there is a critical responsibility for teaching citizenship, the Ministry will be exploring all avenues to prevent students from following an undesirable path.
Any instances of indiscipline in and out of school will be met with the needed intervention and, where necessary, punishment. Minister of Education Anthony Garcia went on to express his firm stance on the matter of indiscipline and has stated “We at the Ministry of Education have done all we can to promote school safety and security through School Based Management and the review of the National School’s Code of Conduct. As a result, we have seen a few instances of indiscipline arising outside of the school compound and we want students to understand that actions have consequences. We have to build the type of society we want to live in going forward and that starts with responsibly managing indiscipline.”
The Ministry has started its public consultation on the Draft Education Policy Paper 2017-2022 which also includes a component on discipline to which members of the public are invited to add their voices.