Drugs, sex, bullying, violence, some issues plaguing schools
Marijuana sales and smoking, sex tapes, gangs, violence, truancy, threats, bullying in all forms (physical, verbal, social and cyber), and a lack of respect for authority are just some of the issues plaguing the West St George Secondary School in Belair.
“Poor parental involvement is a major, major problem. Sometimes you have to trick parents into a parent meeting. More parents would turn up at West St. George to retrieve a phone or to retrieve earrings or confiscated jewellery rather than to just pop in and have a conversation, pop in and check up to see what’s going on,” Principal at the WSG school Afi Martin said at a consultation held at the conference room of the National Insurance Services (NIS) on Tuesday, March 10, 2026.
“Too many of our parents are enablers, and they enable the bad behaviours of their children… we have parents who show up in very combative stances. They’re ready to fight, they are unwilling to talk, they choose not to communicate. And in choosing such a position, it can become very confrontational,” Martin said at the consultation jointly hosted by the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of ………..
The principal was addressing the consultation which was held under the theme “Safer Schools, Safer Communities” and came about as a result of recent incidents of violence involving students in various educational institutions.
“You’d have parents who are saying, ‘me can’t wait until my child done this school’ because you’re trying to put corrective measures in place. Or if a child shows up with the eyebrow cutout, or multiple earrings, or a lace front wig, they don’t want a dialogue. A parent is ready to tell you that they don’t discipline their child,” the educator noted, while adding that she her life has been threatened more than once.
“Teachers have had their lives threatened multiple times…what is missing, largely, is the consciousness to do well and to do better, and that is not cultivated at home. It is not cultivated at home because we have so many parents who are ready for the fight and not necessarily ready for a conversation,” Martin stressed at the gathering of high-ranking police officers, Ministry of Education officials and other educators.
She said there is a major problem with drug use, drug possession and drug distribution at the school.
“We confiscate marijuana daily, every day, in those distribution packages. Sometimes you can get upwards of 34 packs from one student, and that is our reality, and that’s how much you get. That doesn’t mean that that is how much the student had,” Martin said in the presence of the Minister of National Security Major St. Clair Leacock, and Minister of Education, Phillip Jackson.
She said the counsellors are overwhelmed.
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