BSTU distressed over stabbing incident at Frederick Smith Secondary

The fatal stabbing incident which occurred at the Frederick Smith Secondary School yesterday afternoon, should underscore the necessity for a combined, collaborative approach by all stakeholders in education, to ensure there are no barriers to the types of appropriate interventions that are necessary, to address the matter of violence in schools.

President of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) Mary-Anne Redman noted the above, amidst reports that a sixteen year old student was fatally stabbed by another student, a fifteen year old, at the Frederick Smith Secondary School on Friday, after an altercation between the two.

“The members of the BSTU are extremely distressed at this horrendous happening today. I don’t really know what more we could say, having said all that we have said repeatedly as a union for many years now, in relation to violence in schools,” Redman said, in a statement issued to The Barbados Advocate.

“All this to no avail and often to the criticism and ridicule of those who should know better. And even in the face of all the evidence and objective factual knowledge of the problem of violence in schools by those at various levels of authority in our system, there has been for years the lack of the requisite interest and appropriate action taken in addressing it, by those who have the authority to do so,” she meanwhile lamented.

Redman further suggested that attempts by key officials to intervene to assist at-risk students in schools, has not received the level of support from some principals, as should be expected.

“The recent attempts by the Prime Minister and Minister of Education in formulating and implementing programmes targeted at our at-risk students, haven’t gotten the level of support from some principals of some schools as was expected, to the extent that the original number of students identified at that ten hour meeting as having need of the programmes that were envisaged for implementation, by the time that Ministry officials sought to confirm final numbers from the schools, that original number was halved. Now the implications are obvious. In the interim, many students who could benefit from those programmes, have been denied those opportunities and to my mind, this has been a consequence of the fact that some principals seek to protect or maintain or establish the reputation of their schools as they see it, which often have no bearing on the day to day reality of life in those same schools,” she said.

She added, “Many parents too are not offering the type of support that they need to offer to our schools, as it relates to dealing with disciplinary problems and many are not overseeing and supervising the day to day activities of their children”.

The BSTU nevertheless remarked, “In all this, the BSTU offers it heartfelt condolences to both families involved in this tragedy and to staff and students of the Frederick Smith Secondary. This sad event should underscore the necessity of a combined, collaborative approach by all stakeholders, to ensure there are no barriers to the types of appropriate interventions that are necessary in our schools to address this problem, because this must never happen again.” (RSM)