Frederick Smith students lead peace march, rally

Declaring “enough is enough”, scores of students from dozens of schools across the nation said today they are tired of a persistent climate of school violence in a national peace march and rally planned by the young leaders of the school where fellow student Temario Holder was stabbed to death.

Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw joined the students’ ‘peace army’ – armed with anti-violence placards as they coloured the streets of Bridgetown in uniforms and chants. At a rally in Queen’s Park, she challenged teachers, trade union leaders and ministry officials to put their agendas aside for the country’s children as they cry out for safer schools and a safer society.

Citizens paused from their daily activities in the capital city and watched in awe as the nation’s youth, with music trucks and school bands blaring cried out for an end to the scourge of violence, which is destabilising their institutions of learning and communities at large.

Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw

The ‘peace army’ departed Jubilee Gardens and occupied the busiest sections of Broad Street; undeterred by light showers.

“Hate: No, Love: Yes”, “Shut up and Love” and “Use your brain, Violence is insane”, were just some of the messages being carried on the dozens of placards on the road.

Upper fifth form students at Frederick Smith, Bianca Broomes and Brianna Bowen, who, a few weeks ago took the lead in an effort to raise funds for Holder’s funeral, were at the helm of the march.

“We are trying to achieve peace and no violence in Barbados throughout the school and throughout the country,” said Broomes, who said the response to the rally exceeded her expectations.

Bowen chimed in: “It was exciting for me because the students enjoyed themselves, they brought along their placards and that was really exciting.”

Less than a day after one teacher’s union lashed out at the ministry for its handling of education-related issues, Bradshaw warned that the efforts of the youth would all be in vain if stakeholders fail to unite “as a family” in the face of tragedy.

“I want the Frederick Smith School and other schools in this country to settle down, but schools will only settle down if all of us realize that we all have a part to play in allowing schools to settle down. It is only going to change if we put aside our agendas,” said the Education Minister as she addressed the rally in Queens Park.

Moments after walking hand-in-hand with students, she declared: “There isn’t a teacher agenda, there isn’t a union agenda, there isn’t a ministry agenda, and there isn’t a student agenda, because tragedy has taught us that when something happens, there is only one agenda and that is family.”

While blaming bullying, gambling and poor communication skills for some of the violence affecting local schools, Bradshaw acknowledged last month’s fatal stabbing could have occurred at any school. As a result, she lauded students for their strong opposition to the current scourge affecting their places of learning.

But Bradshaw declined to comment on a slew of charges levelled against the Education Ministry by the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) along with an urgent call for a meeting addressing all teachers.

During her spirited address, she acknowledged some teachers felt that their pleas for assistance and interventions in schools had been falling on deaf ears, but encouraged them not to grow weary. And, despite the challenges, Bradshaw encouraged teachers not to ignore some students “crying out and asking for help”.

She said: “Many of these children may not get a parent or an adult saying ‘I love you’.

‘Therefore, when they come to school, as teachers and as people in education, we have a responsibility as well to make up for some of the deficiencies that are happening in their life. That is what a family does.

“A family doesn’t just come together in tragedy, a family must be together at all times, helping to root out the bad behaviour that takes place in our schools and in our societies.

“We can’t be so quick to dismiss children without getting to the root causes of why children are acting up and therefore we have made a commitment in this ministry to no longer see ourselves as ministry and students, ministry and teachers or ministry and unions, but to see each other as stakeholders, where every person’s opinion matters, where every person is valued even if we don’t always agree.”

Bradshaw further stressed that now more than ever; young people should be engaged in activities, which allow them to be leaders and voices for change within their schools.

“Our young people have something to offer and as teachers and role models, we must find opportunities for them to be able to speak, to hear their voice…. to be able to be exposed to different views so they can grow. But what we must not do is shut them down,” concluded the Minister.

The young leaders explained the initiative was suggested as teachers and students were exploring initiatives to help with healing when students returned to school following the fatal incident. School Principal Major Michael Boyce embraced the idea, and the rest was history.

For senior teacher Sandra Gilkes, the head of Frederick Smith’s upper fifth form year group who assisted students with the planning of the march, the presence of other schools was an indication that they recognise that an incident like Temario’s fatal stabbing could have happened at any institution.

“The whole initiative is against violence and promoting peace. The incident at Frederick Smith has been seen as something capable of promoting peace in all of the schools. Also, we see it as a way of helping the students of Frederick Smith School to heal and we are also showcasing some of the positive things,” she added.

The year head also revealed that weeks after the incident, students are still struggling with the loss of their friend and some have not yet returned to school.

“We still have a few children who are not yet ready because one or two of them have not been privileged to get the counselling, so they are still trying to grapple with it. But the ones who got the counselling and came back… the healing has started and this is obviously part of that process.

“We know that time is a great healer, but some of them were really close to Temario and having to be there at school every day and recognising that he is not there is difficult,” she explained, “But we are trying, we are banding together and we have actually seen the group coming closer. Throughout all of this, the entire year group has started coming together.”

The event climaxed with a large rally in which students were addressed by numerous student leaders from Frederick Smith Secondary and a number of other schools as well as Education Minister Bradshaw. They were also treated to prayers, performances and words of encouragement from local entertainers and church leaders. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb