Teachers’ union says punishment of students, police not deterring students from violence

By Emmanuel Joseph

As violence and disorder continue to plague some of the island’s schools, a major teachers’ union is warning that the punishment of students is no longer working and asserted that it is time to make the parents pay.

President of the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union (BSTU) Mary Redman cautioned on Monday that even police intervention appeared unable to be making much of a difference.

“The BSTU is of the firm belief that the time has long gone for parents to be held accountable for the actions of their children. The present punishment used by schools against indiscipline, disorder and violence does not work. They mean nothing to the students too, because they mean nothing to their parents. There is no reinforcement at the level of the home,” Redman told Barbados TODAY.

“The punishments are largely ineffective…and we have a whole cohort, therefore, of young people who are not associating consequences to any of their actions. We are also seeing that playing out in the types of violence, disorder and disregard for law and authority in the wider society.”

The union leader expressed deep concern over “horrendous” fighting in schools in recent weeks, in which students appeared not to care about the presence of police officers who arrived at the scene to maintain law and order.

“Safety in schools and order and discipline in schools go hand in hand.  Like much of Barbados, I have within the last two weeks seen horrendous fighting, student-on-student violence, some with very young girls actively involved…one where little regard was paid to police intervention. The rage and the determination in the actions of the offending students are distressing,” the BSTU head declared.

Redman said that in many instances, principals have good reason to institute the measures they do to maintain order and discipline in their school plants.

“Too often, many parents are unsupportive of such measures taken by the schools in this regard, yet they want a safe and secure environment at the schools. That cannot happen without the enforcement of discipline,” she contended.

In reflecting on last Thursday’s alleged sexual assault of a female student during school hours at the Frederick Smith Secondary, the BSTU head described it as horrific and argued that such an incident must not be repeated.

Redman said she believed the Ministry of Education was aware of its responsibility to take all possible steps to put measures in place to prevent a recurrence of any such incident.

“The BSTU will closely monitor the safeguards implemented in this regard. Certain measures already outlined by the ministry are to be put in place and there is to be a follow-up meeting between the ministry, staff at the school and the unions in two weeks,” she stated.

The union head said her organisation has been working closely with the staff of the school following the 2019 tragedy in which a student was stabbed to death.

“But like too many other schools, there are problems. We have intervened at the level of the ministry in more recent times as well in relation to the problem there with the prevalence of attempted smuggling of weapons of various types onto the school compound by students. Many persons in the wider society severely criticised the principal of the school when he attempted to address that matter by closing the school gates at a certain time,” Redman recalled.

She argued that the principal’s action was an effort to stop children from circumventing the search procedures put in place before the official start of school.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb