Violence At 15 Secondary Schools

School violence continues to pose a challenge to the operations of, in particular, 15 Secondary Schools across Trinidad and Tobago. When TTT last spoke with Education Minister Dr. Nyan Gadsby Dolly in March, she said that this violence was noted and stakeholders were engaged in order to address the phenomena. The Ministry of Education consulted with both the Ministry of National Security and the Commissioner of Police to discuss an immediate response to incidents of school violence, pending the recommendations of the Inter-Ministerial Committee. The outcome was a letter of formal request from the Ministry of Education to the Commissioner of Police for advice on the procedure for removing violent students from the school environment to one which can offer them rehabilitative services. This request was made as the school matrix currently offers suspension as its most punitive action which at this time seems to be insufficient.