Nothing to say, yet
Transcription
Students at B.B. Koch High School and Stare Town Academy in Jamaica have been attacked by fellow students. One incident involved a 14-year-old boy being beaten by an 11th grade male student. Another incident involved a grade 8 female student being pushed and hitting her head. Both victims were hospitalized. The principal of Stare Town Academy clarifies that the incident did not happen on the school grounds. Investigations are ongoing and the Ministry of Education and police are involved. The school is following protocols and seeking guidance on how to proceed. Another heartbreaking video, more heartbreaking stories of students being harmed by other students. The latest attacks, and I should say latest of many, were reported over the past week at the B.B. Koch High School in St. Elizabeth and the Stare Town Academy in St. Anne. So today we're continuing our discussion about violence in schools and what needs to be done about it. We are going to be speaking with the principal of Stare Town Academy, Omar Mongal, he'll be joining us by Zoom in studio. We have the president of the Jamaica Teachers Association, Leighton Johnson, as well as the president of the Jamaica Association of Social Workers, Jacqueline Brand. We also have with us Constable and School Intervention Officer, Moesha Allen. Before we go to our guest though, this report from Giovanni Dennis. These four boys are taking turns carrying their 14-year-old friend to get medical attention. This is last Thursday in St. Elizabeth. The 14-year-old friend was beaten almost unconscious by an 11th grade male student after he reportedly lost his balance and came in contact with the 11th grader. On Monday, they were given a hero's welcome at school. The boy leading the way is 13-year-old Khary Gray. He was with Jaheim when the incident happened. Khary tried to intervene but was pulled away by security. He says the onslaught worsened. His other friend had to rush to his defense. They quickly went for him to take him to hospital but then things got scary. They had to take turns when their hands got tired. They wanted to buy him a bottle of water but even that proved difficult. Out of vexing concern, no motorist offered them help. They barged straight inside the doctor's office, put him on a bed and yelled, emergency. After the doctor took their friend, they all got more emotional. Now that he has been hospitalized, the boys were each presented with a certificate of commendation from the Prime Minister today. In the meantime, the accused grade 11 student was offered bail in the sum of $300,000 with surety when he appeared in court on Monday. A stop order has also been placed against him at all ports of entry. His case is expected to be mentioned in court again on Wednesday. The 14-year-old victim is still in hospital in stable condition. Since the B.B. Coke incident, other videos involving students fighting have started to circulate online. On Monday, a grade 8 student of the Steertown Academy was hospitalized after an altercation with another 8th grade female student. It's alleged a group of them were walking outside the school compound and began hurling insults at each other. One was pushed and fell, hitting her head. She was rendered unconscious and was taken to the regional hospital. Giovanni Dennis for All Angles. OK, and just for clarity, the last set of videos you were seeing were not from the Steertown incident. It was, as Giovanni said, some of the other reports that have videos that have since started to circulate. And let me start with Mr. Mungall, Omar Mungall, who is the principal of the Steertown Academy. And we appreciate you joining us, sir. First, first of all, how is your student doing? Thank you. Good evening, Diane. Good evening, viewers. She's doing fairly well. She's still in the hospital. The doctors are still doing their observations and support. But to the best of our knowledge, she is conscious. She is talking and she is recuperating pretty well. And we hope we'll make a full recovery. We are hoping for that. All right. What was your own reaction when you heard of that incident? Well, when I heard of the incident, I was rather shocked because, to the best of my knowledge, the manner in which the incident was reported was very much inaccurate. In that, it stated that a child, it was a shul incident, like a Diddy Coke incident, and that is totally not so. All right. It was also stated that it happened on the school compound to which we were all oblivious. I spent the entire night calling and trying to find out some persons. If something actually took place on the compound without the knowledge of the staff members or security persons attached to the institution, we were able to finally get the truth that it was not about a shul. It did not happen on the school compound. It happened in the community of Steertown. And it happened because a group of girls, or indeed just in each other, you know, young people, you know, with their insults and support, and they ended up in a scuffle. She fell and she hit her head, was unconscious, and was taken to St. Ann's Bay Hospital by a passing motorist. So basically, we were able to decipher that it's unfortunate that the incident took place. Very unfortunate for violence of any sort in schools or relating to school is unacceptable, whether on the street, at school, in the community, wherever it is, it is unacceptable. However, just to set the record straight, what was initially reported is not factual. And so we have to, it leads us to require of media personalities to really interrogate the truth before they present information as facts. Thank you, dear. So given what you've described as what you now understand to be the circumstances, what really happened, does that mean then that there isn't a situation where there is action to be taken against the other girls involved? No, certainly, the education system has this protocol that must be applied. And every administrator knows that that must be done. There's a process of a critical incident that has to be completed, sent off to the ministry, you have to get all the parties involved, the parents involved. If the matter needs to be dealt with by the board of management, there is a process that you have to take, put that matter there. And so the school, we would have started the process, we would have identified the students involved, made contact with parents already, and we are far advanced in determining the course of action to be taken. Okay, I was just, I guess, trying to understand if the fact that it didn't happen on the school grounds, what difference does that make in terms of your responsibility and the action you can take? Well, let's separate it. If it happened on the school compound, it would mean, therefore, that it would have been during time that it takes for supervision on the compound. When we are on the compound, it means that teachers and other staff members have direct supervision over the students. When they leave the confines of the compound, there is very little that we can do to ensure that they are safe, that they are held accountable for their actions on the street. However, because they are still in uniform, and they are minors or they are students, it is expected that once we are aware of the situation that arises, we intervene and we try to deal with it as the code of regulations, as the rules of the institution, and as the policies that exist dictate. Okay, so you said the investigations have started. So just give us just before I let you go on this one. So what happens from here? From here, as I stated before, it's a matter now for the intervention to take place. And when we think of the treatment of the matter, we think of not only the victim, we think of the perpetrators as well, because we have to remember that we have a duty of care to all of these students, whether for those who were implicated in wrongdoing, and those who would have suffered at the hands of the perpetrators. And as such, we are now treating the matter, we would have engaged the services of our guidance sponsors or student service support unit. We have been in dialogue with the Ministry of Education as well. Just yesterday morning, the Ministry of Education herself, along with the education ministry team, visited the institution. When they came, we were already advancing the process of speaking with the parent of the child involved. We would have also identified the students involved in the incident, and we would have started treating with such through our internal operatives, while we seek further guidance as well as how to proceed, so that we ensure that there is fairness, even though persons might be putting emotions in it, we still have to deal with the facts as they are. And there is a way that we treat with cases like these. And so we'll have to apply the proper processes as they come. Okay, and when you say you're seeking guidance, meaning from the ministry? From the Ministry of Education, as well as from other external agencies such as the CPFSA. And also we would be in dialogue with our external co-service who we call on for advice from time to time. Okay, are the police involved at all in this or not? The police is indeed involved, they have to do the investigations as well. The police team would have visited the institution yesterday morning. I would have also spoken to the senior superintendent of police in charge of the area. And so they are actively involved in the investigations as well. Okay, thank you so much. We're going to take a break. And when we come back, we'll broaden the discussion, bringing our guests in studio. Remembers always want to hear from you as well. You can tweet us, well, X us. Our hashtag is TVJAllAngles. You can WhatsApp us as well. 3810072. Give us your first name, your general location. Whistle comes.
