Arima North Secondary hits with student fights

- File photo

ANOTHER video of a fight at the Arima North Secondary School has raised concerns among staff about poor management at the school and the possible need for a police presence.

The video showed multiple students gathering around to join in a fight between two students, while others tried to part them. Students were filmed climbing over the balcony to join in the ruckus, which was eventually stopped by adults in purple shirts.

A staff member who spoke to Newsday on condition of anonymity said the problems began in July when the then principal retired.

“There have been a lot of management issues since then. Two vice principals have quit their posts. We have over 1,000 children in this school, with an acting principal and no vice principals. The management of student affairs has been deteriorating for months.

"I understand they have been doing interviews to fill the vacant position of principal. It couldn’t come fast enough,” the teacher said.

The staff member said there were three or four big fights in the school since the one which took place in September between a student and a teacher and which was also shared on social media.

“Arima North Secondary School is a strong academic school, one of the best performing schools in the area, so it’s no surprise that the authorities didn’t see a need to have police on the compound, because they saw we were doing well. The school needs leadership, not police.”

Another anonymous source told Newsday that there have been a high number of disciplinary issues over the five weeks school has been open.

“...in terms of physical altercations that range all the way from one-on-one with students to one-on-one with staff members and students. As we have seen yesterday, even group battles, I don’t know what else to describe it as.

“The system we have in place is not working. We need a greater presence on the corridors. We need help from outside at this point. Earlier, it was clear that we needed police on the compound for whatever reason.”

The official said teachers are not equipped to deal with these issues.

“We may need some level of social intervention, whether it be more social workers. Based on teachers having to take up this additional load of becoming police on the compound, we may need intervention by the employee assistance programme (EAP) soon.

The Education Ministry, in response to questions from Newsday, said it was awaiting incident reports from the school before it could respond to the situation.