Increasing incidents of student-on-teacher attacks are engaging the attention of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) and the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU).
BUT president Rudy Lovell said yesterday there was an increase in violent activities at some schools “where teachers are being threatened and we are seeking to resolve these before they get to a stage where we don’t want”.
He was responding to reports reaching the DAILY NATION that three teachers at Coleridge & Parry School had been violently attacked or threatened by students since the new school term started.
A teacher at the Ashton Hall, St Peter school said so bad was the situation that a number of the educators were calling in sick, as they were afraid for their health and safety.
‘Cuffed about the body’
“The latest incident happened on Monday when a young female teacher was cuffed about the body by a senior male student,” a teacher at the rural school revealed, pointing out that the teacher involved was physically and psychologically injured.
“As a result, the teachers called in the union rep early on Tuesday morning before school began and it was at that meeting that we got the shocking news that this was the third incident for the term. We were informed that in another incident a student threatened to ‘bust’ a teacher’s face and smash her cell phone because she was recording him as he was involved in a violent exchange with another student.
“We were also informed that a student took up a stool and threatened to beat a teacher with it. He swung the stool at the teacher and the teacher had to duck and block it to avoid being hit.”
After hearing these reports, the teachers held a meeting with members of the BSTU that afternoon, including president Mary Redman.
When contacted yesterday, Redman said: “We are actively addressing these matters.”
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