In the last term of the 2021/2022 school year, when most of the student population was reintegrated into physical school after two years of virtual learning, several videos of school violence surfaced on social media.
The Ministry of Education and other bodies grappled with ways to curb what seemed to be a growing problem.
Headlines detailing incidents of violence and stakeholders commenting on ways to treat with the issue were plastered in the daily newspapers and significantly featured on TV in the first half of 2022.
Just last week, the Ministry of Education announced that police officers will remain stationed at 17 secondary schools due to high amounts of school violence at those institutions.
But while adults try to find solutions to deal with school violence, the answer may lie with the main stakeholders, the students.
Guardian Media conducted a focus group on school violence with students from Standard Five to Form Five.
The students were Alexia-Rae Daniel (Bishop Anstey High School East - Form 5), Josh John (South East Port-of-Spain Secondary - Form 3), Lily Villafana (St Francois Girls’ College - Form 4), Jacquis Williams (Richmond Street Boys’ Anglican - Standard 5) and Jayla Williams (Bishop Anstey High School - Form 5).
They said cyberbullying was one of the main reasons for the increase in violence seen amongst students in the last term.
“Young children use social media a lot...even if they mention the slightest things, students can get offended by these things and tend to lash out,” Villafana said.
“Somebody, for instance, will throw a status for this person and then peer pressure will come in from the other students like you see what the person post about you and when they come in school now, they have to prove something to their peers, “Alexia-Rae Daniel added.
Jayla Williams agreed, saying the fights are usually the end result of a build-up of bullying and provocation.
“You just want to lash out at that person ... when school open, I going to attack John or whatever and then you come out to school and you see John and that is where most of the anger come out because you holding that rage from since when school closed,” Jayla said.
According to the group, students can be cyberbullied for their physical appearance or social background, possibly the same reasons from decades before but just on a new more public platform.
Williams said he was tormented about a bad he used for a couple years and was able to ignore the torment but noted not every child is as strongminded.
Jayla said she was provoked about her weight and Daniel said she was laughed at for the sneakers she wore.
Villafana added that jealousy can also cause a less fortunate student to abuse others.
“Children talking about ‘oh yes, we went on a vacation together and these things tend to trigger you’...There will be minor arguments between students talking about oh they went to this fancy place, we ate by Jaxx’s or someplace nice like that and students didn’t really get that opportunity because of financial issues, parents arguing,” Villafana explained.
Daniel said although the ultimate goal is to stand out, many students just want to fit in and this is why she believes parents should talk to their children about their circumstances.
“I might be able to take somebody saying look at your shoes, look at this... but somebody else will be like I not taking this. To prove themselves, they will take it out in anger,” Daniel said.
For the parents who fail to address this issue, the group said teachers or guidance counsellors should step in because these types of incidents will occur in schools where there is a mixture of students.
They believe with intervention at the right time, incidents like the one in which a 15-year-old Williamsville Secondary School student stabbed her schoolmate would have been stopped, noting that when it reaches a boiling point without intervention, there is no turning back.
“They blinded by the anger so in their mind they thinking I will beat this girl real bad and the girl will not stab her just so, it had to be a build-up, she must be just snap,” Daniel said.
Josh John added that it’s not difficult at all, even with checks by the security and police patrols, to get weapons into the school compound.
“They will ask you to put your bag down and they will search the whole bag but there is still a lot of other places where you will put a weapon in their clothes and pockets...or like in bowls of food,” he said.
John said most times, the male gender is frisked while the girls pass freely. He said the weapons or contraband can be given to them.
Jayla added that students also put weapons in textbooks. She and Villafana said the equipment placed at school to do these checks often malfunctions.
However, they agreed that expulsion was not the best solution for the Williamsville student, who was also charged by police. Williams suggested students should be expelled after three strikes.
The members of the focus group said they also feel safer with the police patrols outside the schools but not every student feels that way.
“I see it as a form of protection, but it’s a diverse culture coming into schools, so if you accustomed to police as a bad thing in your community, you accustomed seeing your family member, your friends running from police and getting shoot behind, you wouldn’t see police as a form of protection,” Daniel said.
“I see them as a form of protection, however, and this is from my perspective when I going to school...Police does be there in the mornings but when you in school now, police come and just drive around in one circle once and go back out... time it reach evening, a lot of school fights does happen because sometimes people might come to school late, in the evening you does hardly see them,” John added.
They noted that if more patrols occurred during the evening, the incident in which a parent attacked a student outside the Morvant Laventille Secondary School could have been prevented.
“If a conflict happen between two persons or even more...if it was my child I would want to figure out the actual story of what happened...if you don’t know the truth, I suggest you just go to the police,” John said.
“I find the adults should not jump in a fight.” Williams added.
“Parent to parent, they should have a conversation,” Jayla said.
“I get you care about your child, you ready to jump in, throw hands, everything like that, but it really isn’t a good look on you because you supposed to be more developed...You see adults fighting like this, you may think that it’s okay,” Villafana said.
But Daniel had a different view. She said if the reason for the parent’s intervention was to protect their child from abuse, she understands. She said abuse against girls at schools is not taken seriously and sometimes young boys cross the line.
“That does damage a lot of girls’ self-esteem and stuff...they brush it off as a game for boys and thing to touch a girl breast or hold her bottom and think they take it as cool points but in the real world, it’s harassment,” she explained.
The students said instead of police and punishment, more youth group programmes (police youth clubs) should be implemented, as well as seminars with parents/teachers where students can explain to adults what is happening in their lives.
Jayla said they should just consult with them first. The group said they are not persuaded by any public figure coming to speak with them but rather distracted.
However, they did admit that the older generation may not understand what they face daily.
“Try sending in younger people to talk with the students because they relate to younger people, instead of having older folks who came from a different generation who don’t know modern times right now,” Villafana said.
They all agree, however, that they should be involved in the conversation.