Security at the Success/Laventille Secondary School will be heightened from today in the wake of the murder of student Salim Dalzell in front the school last Friday. There will also be police patrols outside the school and its environs from 6 am to 6 pm. The situation comes as the Ministry of Education grapples with a spate of school violence across the country in recent weeks where students seem to be “getting out of hand.”
The decision to provide more security at Success/Laventille was taken yesterday following a meeting with the school’s teachers and officials from the Ministry of Education, T&T Police Service (TTPS), including members of the Inter-Agency Task Force, and the T&T Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA). Teachers at the school were said to be still traumatised by the incident, since some of them were sent scampering for their lives when gunmen opened fire on Dalzell, 17, in an attack just after school.
TTUTA president Devanand Sinanan told the T&T Guardian that during the meeting, the police assured the teachers there would be patrols from 6 am to 6 pm everyday. The number of MTS security guards will also be increased from two to five and the perimeter wall at the back of the school, which is often scaled by outsiders to gain access to the school compound for various reasons, including selling drugs and gang-related activities, will be raised.
Sinanan also said several pupils believed to be heavily involved in ongoing gang warfare at the school have already been identified and will be suspended pending the completion of investigations by the police. But he said teachers were angry at the meeting and expressed disappointment in the police, as they said a teacher had made an SoS call to the police at about 2.03 pm on Friday, alerting them to the possibility that violence could occur.
"The teacher said they were alerted that the pupil (Dalzell) was outside the gates of the school.” “They said he was suspended and had apparently returned to deal with some pupils. “The teacher said a call was put through to the police, where they informed them of the situation and the seriousness of it. “The teacher said no police came around and believed that the killing could have been avoided had the police responded," Sinanan said.
Centre for troubled children
Sinanan said police gave an assurance that from now on they will treat with all reports relating to school violence and threats as serious and give them priority. He added: "The situation is a grave one but not surprising to me. We are looking at a number of initiatives at the national level on how to deal with the problem. “Too many children are not prepared for school. They have no concept on what schooling and a proper education entails. They have no sense of discipline, no sense of value and purpose, no sense of respect for their parents, elders, teachers and the laws of this land.
"We do not want to reach the point of having military zones for schools because that is not the way how school is supposed to be. We have to have an interim measure to regain that sense of control."
Sinanan said there were also ongoing discussions on establishing a centre for troubled pupils who will be identified and relocated to these facilities for rehabilitation, including anger management and problem-solving, until they are ready to be reintegrated into the school system. He added that a community group would also be assisting by visiting the homes of pupils, where they could work along with them, their parents and siblings.
Counsellors going in today
Counsellors will visit Success/Laventille from today to offer services to the traumatised teachers and students in the wake of Friday’s killing. Sinanan said many teachers, students and parents now feared there would be reprisal attacks at the school in the wake of Salim Dalzell’s killing. According to police reports, Dalzell, 17, was gunned down while standing outside the school gate around 2.45 pm. Terrified and traumatised teachers disclosed they heard about 21 gunshots during the attack. Some of them and their students had to run for cover to save their own lives. The Ministries of National Security, Education, Social Development and Gender, Youth and Child Development will also meet today to discuss the issue of rising violence in schools.
High on its agenda will be the implementation of security and social measures to curb violence and to strengthen further security measures in the nation’s schools. In the past week school violence has again been a front-burner issue in T&T, as there were several reports of bullying, school fights and attacks on teachers and their property at the Carapichaima West Secondary School, Tranquility Government Secondary School and Cunupia High School.
Then came the murder of a student outside the Success/Laventille Composite School last Friday, an incident linked to gang activity within the school. Contacted yesterday, National Security Minister Gary Griffith said his ministry had done comprehensive research and analysis on what was required to curb school violence. He said: "It is more than just police patrols. We will be looking at implementing undercover police officers, introducing more scanners and improving the quality of private security to deal with situations.”
Violence in schools occurs in communities where there are high levels of:
• Easy access to drugs and arms and ammunition.
• Substance abuse.
• Low commitment to school.
• Delinquency, violence and incidence of gangs and gang attachment.
• No identified line of authority.
A recent trend has shown that violence has become more prevalent due to:
• Changes in the moral and values of our society.
• Lack of consequence for one’s actions.
• The perception of inequity, based on one’s location and life situations.
