The Anglican Board will look into an incident that allegedly took place at the Scarborough Anglican School between a 12-year-old pupil who sat the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination on July 1 and a senior staff member at the school.
According to the boy’s father, the senior staff member accused the child of stealing the school’s tablet, which had to be returned the morning of the exam.
The man alleged that his son was called to the school’s office via the intercom during the exam’s break.
On arrival, the senior staff member inquired about the school’s tablet which all SEA students were to return that morning. He told her in the haste to get to the exam, he had forgotten it.
It was then the staff member allegedly accused the boy of stealing it, telling him the police would go to his house to get it, the father claims.
The father did a video recording on July 1 of his trip to return the tablet to the school.
The man said his family, especially his son, remain traumatised by the incident, as children and parents are aware of it.
“Up to this morning (July 6), my son was not looking like himself. The stress alone of having to do the exam, plus this stress is a lot for him. He is not coping with the situation well at all. I am not doing well as I am still very upset about it.”
He added: “I feel my child is targeted because I am a single parent.”
The Scarborough father said he came to this conclusion, as other children who forgot to return their tablets were not called to the office.
He told Guardian Media he initially wanted the incident to remain private. However, he felt making it public would prevent other students from facing similar trauma and clear his son’s name.
On July 2, he called Tobago’s Education Division to complain about the incident. They told him to email the chief examiner responsible for SEA and explain the situation, he said.
Guardian Media spoke to Tobago’s Archdeacon and chair on the Anglican’s advisory board chair, Father Phill Isaac.
He said he did not hear about the incident but will look into the matter.
Guardian Media reached out to Education Secretary Marslyn Melville-Jack for comment on the matter.
However, she had not replied up to news time.