It was recently published that teachers in some primary schools in east Trinidad are scared for their lives. This is also the case in the other geographical regions. Can you imagine this is where we have reached? Think, when these students progress into secondary school, what it will be like? However, the signs were there all along, we ignored them to our detriment now.
The reality is that teachers are trained mainly to deliver academic curricula and some of them in basic classroom management. Classroom management in the 21st century should be a compulsory component that all teachers must undergo.
The critical question now is: why do we expect teachers to be able to adequately deal with these young deviants in and out of the classroom? It is certainly not their forte. Further, if they are forced to deal with such crimes daily, as many of the acts committed can be classified as such, they will spend most of the class time here. And, the other students who want to learn, lose out.
Dealing with deviants is a profession in itself and the deans and other people who may not have to teach should exclusively handle these matters. Of course, teachers will deal with the little problems like not doing homework, talking etc, in class but the crime problems should not be within their remit.
TTUTA should state its position on this. Conflict resolution techniques should be taught to all teachers and students including school administrative, security and safety staff.
There must be a clear and fair system where certain deviants are removed from the classrooms and possibly school system and leave the others there who want to learn. This is as simple as it can get. It is unfair for children who want to better themselves via the education route to be robbed of this daily.
Like adult deviants who are separated from the rest of society, we need to consider this approach for young deviants who also want to engage in “adult-like” activities. They should know that there shall be consequences for their actions.
Ian Ramdhanie