Father worried over stabbing threats to his 10-year-old

A father is worried that the prevalence of violence in the schools may soon descend upon his son.

Errol Layne has a 10-year-old in Grade Six at the Westwood Methodist School and has complained about the behaviour of the parent of another student who has been having confrontations with other students.

Layne said that the man has said he would give his son a knife to stab anyone with whom he had a fight.

Layne is not concerned about his son only but the safety of every student and is frustrated at apparent inaction by the school. {{more}}

Principal of the Westwood Methodist School Godfrey James told SEARCHLIGHT that he submitted a report to the Ministry of Education about the incident.

James contacted the father of the child who threatened the other but up to Wednesday, the man had not responded to his call.

The Principal also said that he took away a knife from the youngster who said he had it “to peel oranges”.

James was at a loss as to reasons behind the actions of the man who followed through with the promise to give his son a knife.

The Westwood Methodist School has a roll of 56 students with 22 in Grade Six.

The issue of violence in schools hit the spotlight last week during a press conference by the St Vincent and the Grenadines Union of Teachers.

President of the Teachers Union Otto Sam, Industrial Relations Officer of that institution Denniston Douglas, as well as Public Relations Officer of the SVGTU struck a chord of harmony on the question of school violence. The three union officials spoke about the trend of delinquent behaviour in schools.

The Teachers Union is concerned with two matters: the maximum use of school time as a place of learning and safety of teachers and students.

The union echoed efforts to have secure environs at schools, and they want the Ministry of Education to improve safety on the compounds.

Sam is interested in seeing that persons entering the school premises do so through the Principal’s office.