Students turn school supplies into weapons

Tuesday, under the hot afternoon sun, just after students had been dismissed from school for the day, three students from two Kingstown secondary schools were seen carrying deadly weapons in an aggressive manner and arguing loudly in the street just outside Searchlight House and the Social Welfare Department.

These weapons however, were not illegal weapons, but were in the students’ possession at the request of the school and full permission of their parents. The three weapons were a pair of scissors, a screwdriver and a divider.{{more}}

Students of technical drawing, mathematics, electricity, clothing and textiles, and craft are required to bring these instruments among others to school for the practical components of the subjects.

Perhaps now is the time for us as a nation to consider whether these instruments and tools should be provided by the schools and taken from the students at the end of each lesson. Had tempers flared a little more on Tuesday, the afternoon could have ended in bloodshed or even death.