The Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) believes the way to dealing with the disrespect and misbehavior in schools is through collaborative intervention and not more expulsions.
The call comes from TTUTA vice president Adesh Dwarika, in the wake of the expulsion earlier this week of a Siparia East Secondary student who was caught on camera using obscenities at her teacher.
Dwarika, according to a GML report, said: “TTUTA is not calling for expulsions. What we are calling for is for behaviour to be treated. The students to be given relevant support so that they can become functioning members of society. What we would like to do is to call for collaborative intervention, and collaborative intervention would involve the parents, would involve the educators, the social workers, mental health professionals, psychologists, sociologists. We want these people to get involved in the process so that the child is not only expelled and put out there and then have to fend for their own.”
He added, “Some teachers are a bit more mentally and emotionally strong and some cannot understand and adapt to this kind of behaviour.”
Dwarika pointed out that in recent times, only two students have been expelled, including the recent case of Siparia East Secondary student Trevieann Raymond, after a video of her verbally abusing her teacher went viral.
The other expulsion involved a stabbing incident at another secondary school.