How many more?

“HOW many more Mr. Minister?” That’s the question being asked by Public Relations Officer of the Barbados Union of Teacher (BUT), Dwayne Goddard.

The question was in relation to the violence being exhibited by school children, which, he said, as far back as the 1980s, has at time resulted in death.

After playing John King’s popular, tune ‘How Many More?’, he told the teachers gathered at Queen’s Park yesterday morning, most of them dressed in red, that while violence and indiscipline in schools is nothing new, it does not mean it should not be addressed. In fact, he said if not dealt with effectively, it will get out of control.

“My mind goes back to the student from the Foundation School who was stabbed in the 80s; her name was June. I remember this because my aunt was in the class with that student.

“Then there was the Garrison School boy who got off the bus in Oistins and met his timely death. And then there was the Princess Margaret student running from fear of his colleagues, and ran to his own death,” he said.

Goddard added, “So the statistics are there, colleagues, the statistics are there. We don’t need to cite external sources. Students have died at the hands of other students here in this island, so my question is, how many more? How many more do we need to see cut down in the prime of their lives before we take action?”

Referring to the slogan, ‘Each One Matters’, which has been used by the Ministry of Education in several spheres, Goddard enquired if the mantra was genuine, as he contended that it was important to take action against violence before another life is lost.

His comments came as he charged that the entire school system was facing a serious problem – students whose challenges make them unfit for the regular classroom setting. Maintaining that the situation that unfolded at the Ellerslie Secondary School was the straw that broke the camel’s back, Goddard warned the teachers that “this is a serious issue, today for me and tomorrow for you”.

“We need to be our brother’s keeper,” he contended.

The BUT PRO also raised concerns about efforts to stop corporal punishment in Barbadian schools, warning that if the Ministry of Education follows this route that the United States has gone, it may also need to utilise metal detectors at local schools, as that North American country has had to do. With that in mind, he said the rather than “transferring the problems”, the relevant authorities need to sit down with the Barbados Defence Force and look at creating a system of boot camp for the students.

“And not one that is run like Edna Nicholls or that school up there in Erdiston [New Horizons Academy], because those are expensive wastes of time,” he maintained. (JRT)