TEACHERS ARE CALLING on Government to improve security in schools’ “war zones” and to make it illegal for party-goers to wear school uniforms to fetes in Barbados.
Stating that several school compounds were unsafe and unhealthy, president of the Barbados Union of Teachers, (BUT) Pedro Shepherd, lamented the fact that the safety of students and teachers was under threat because of what he termed “inadequate and inefficient” security guards, and noted the BUT had been highlighting such security issues for the past ten years at its conferences.
At the launch of the union’s 39th annual general conference at Solidarity House Monday night, he said: “There are reports of schools being deemed war zones in Barbados today. Are we serious about education?”
Calling for an increased police presence at and around schools, Shepherd also suggested that random searches of school compounds in high-risk areas be instituted, “particularly at the secondary and post-secondary institutions, SJPP [Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic] and BCC [Barbados Community College]”.
