Senior Reporter
anna-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt
Officers from the TTPS Victim and Witness Support Unit (VWSU) yesterday visited St Francois Girls’ College to begin counselling with the staff and students, in the wake of last Friday’s shooting incident in the community which forced the principal to dismiss classes early.
Guardian Media was told officials arrived at the school at St Francois Valley Road at 10 am, following which they met with the principal, staff and students.
Even as this session got underway, T&T Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) president Martin Lum Kin told reporters outside the main gate that they had come to lend support to members who had gone through the traumatic experience on Friday.
He said while it was unfortunate, “we are mindful of the times that we are going through and the area in which we are.”
A drive-by shooting along Serreneau Road, Belmont, at 11.20 am on Friday, resulted in two men, aged 50 and 24, being injured.
Police said as officers responded to the incident and carried out a manhunt for the two gunmen, an 18-year-old suspect of Mc Kai Lands, Belmont, was spotted hiding in a drain just outside the school and reportedly pointed a gun at lawmen, following which they returned fire. He later died at hospital, while a second man surrendered to the police a short while later.
While the initial shooting did not take place near the school, the gunshots and the search by officers for the suspects occurred in full view and earshot of staff and students, who were forced to engage in protective measures such as barricading themselves in their classrooms and hiding under desks.
The traumatic event led to the school being dismissed early, as parents and guardians were called to take their children home.
Classes resumed yesterday as normal, with a heightened police presence in and around the area.
Standing outside the school as security guards carefully vetted parents and visitors alike and manually opened and closed the wrought-iron gates to allow vehicles access in and out of the compound, Lum Kin also challenged the Ministry of Education to say what measures were being put in place to ensure the staff and students felt safer.
He said, “If we look at the compound, we see high walls, high fences, and this is an indication of the times we are living in, but it also puts us into a perspective that our schools have to have these sort of perimeter fencing and if one did not know that this is a school, one may think that it is a prison or a place of rehabilitation for criminals.”
Lum Kin said the current crime situation had led to the majority of schools fast resembling prisons, instead of being allowed to continue to flourish as educational institutions.
This, he claimed, was a poor reflection of T&T’s society.
He said, “In the past, schools and places of worship were revered and there was an unwritten code which said that these places should not be touched but more and more, we are seeing that that unwritten code is being broken and that the occupants of these institutions where learning takes place, where minds are moulded and future generations are being taught, are being breached and that the criminals have no sense of respect.”
Lum Kin said TTUTA will be reaching out to the relevant authorities to request continued security and counselling for the staff and students.