The Ministry of Education's decision, following Cabinet's approval, to enrol ten 'expelled' secondary students in the Military-Led Academic Training Programme (Milat) has raised some important issues.
The disturbing extent of school dropouts, high failure rates and school violence has serious consequences for students as well as present and future public safety.
While we worry about today's 'ten expelled,' it looks as if there are more to come.
Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly has several other challenges: two are the 40 per cent not scoring above 50 per cent in this year's SEA, and over 2,000 school dropouts recorded.
Where have these dropouts gone, from which schools, whose homes?
Three were expelled last year; this year the number grew to ten and counting. These ten have been suspended and repeatedly warned about their troubling misconduct. How effective is her disciplinary matrix?
No doubt the minister has consulted with her National Advisory Committee.
The Education Act (No1 of 1966) states: 'The principal of any public school may suspend from attendance any pupil who for gross misconduct may be considered injurious or dangerous to other pupils or whose attendance at school is likely for any serious cause to have detrimental effect upon the other pupils, so, however, that no such suspension shall be for a period exceeding one week.'
Note, among the 11 statutory duties of the school principal are managing 'discipline of the school' and 'supervising the physical safety of pupils.'
School supervisors are required to ensure principals conform to the act. So what happened?
Over many years, teachers have been complaining about the classroom difficulties caused by the persistently "gross misconduct' of some students, especially when the expected co-operation from parents was not forthcoming. The restorative treatment required in some schools was also hampered by deficiencies in school management, even though the Education Act provided several provisions for intervention.
Teachers' complaints from 20 urban and rural secondary schools about students and their parents were recorded in a research publication titled Voices of the Teachers (R Deosaran, 2008) and submitted to the ministry. We heard of many students rudely 'answering back teachers, refusing to come inside the class, fighting, drug abuse, smoking, gambling, illicit sex, extortion, absenteeism, obscenity, standing up in class to insult teachers,' etc.
Some older males (14-16) were 'not afraid to tease or threaten female teachers,' all this suggesting how 'old' such school problems are.
Accompanying this 2008 research report was a separate, related one titled Empowering Teachers to Reduce Student Violence and Delinquency (Deosaran, 2008). Both reports were presented to each school and the ministry for action.
One complaint from a senior comprehensive school was: 'There was recently a major school fight with more than 20 students and rival gangs, like a big riot. School safety officers and security guards were unable to control them.'
