With shouts of “Leave we Joy alone!” students of the Ste Madeleine Secondary school yesterday hurled bottles of juice, water and soft drink at teachers protesting for the removal of their principal.
After several of the protesting teachers were hit with the bottles police were called in, but that did not stop the students, who continued to throw missiles, curse, shout and beat drums as they held an ‘anti-protest’ demonstration against the protesting teachers.
The drama unfolded around 11.40 am, when about 14 of the school’s 48 teachers and members of the TTUTA executive, armed with placards and a bell, began to protest on the pavement metres away from the school gate.
The teachers accused the school principal’s of inciting violence against them and called on the Ministry of Education to remove her to allow for a full scale investigation.
But about five minutes into the demonstration, approximately 100 students gathered by the gate, walking in and around the guard booth and shouting at the teachers. Several were armed with their own placards, which read: “Teachers come and teach us!” and “Stop the nonsense.”
As the teachers ignored them, the youngsters seemed to become enraged and began hurling bottles of water at them. In their full uniform, they shouted, cursed and several male students were seen grabbing their private parts and gesturing at the teachers. When media cameras focused on them, they began posing and holding up their placards.
TTUTA president Lynsley Doodhai told the T&T Guardian that the students’ behaviour was exactly why the teachers were protesting.
“Our teachers have claimed they are being abused, victimised, intimated by a senior school official of the school, the situation at the school is very toxic. A few weeks ago there was an assembly where the senior school official would have incited the students to raise up and act out against teachers, so much so that we have had a break down of discipline at the school,” he said.
“You can see for yourself what is happening in terms of missiles being thrown at the peaceful protest, when students are throwing bottles at their own teachers, that alone can tell you discipline has broken down at the school.”
During the interview, a marked police vehicle drove onto the compound, returned to the gates and stopped. Two female officers inside of the vehicle, with their windows down, stayed inside the car. While they were parked there, the T&T Guardian observed two students trying to stick a placard on the car’s rear bumper. The officers seemed unaware of this and drove off the compound a few minutes later and stopped beneath a nearby tree.
Pointing out the students behaviour, Doodhai said, “Students putting placards on the police car, that really goes to show the level of indiscipline at the school.”
He said TTUTA is calling for the principal’s removal until a proper investigation is completed at the school.
Almost immediately after the interview, a group of students were seen running towards the school gates with drums held high above their heads. They quickly formed a circle and began beating the drums and chanting “Leave we Joy alone!”
TTUTA second vice-president Kyrla Robertson said police responded to calls by TTUTA members, but said they could not act if they did not see the students pelting the missiles.
Around 1.20 pm, the students threw a full bottle of soft drink, barely missing the heads of two protesting teachers. The police officers, who were still parked outside the school, were asked why they had not taken any action against the students. They said they did not see any bottles being thrown, but they would ‘monitor’ the situation. The officers then got out of their car, entered the school compound and started warning the students about their behaviour.
Ten minutes later, a man dressed in a track pants and T-shirt was seen addressing the students, after which they went back to their classes. The protesting teachers did not go back to classes, as they said they were fearful for their safety. Numerous calls to Education Minister Anthony Garcia for a comment on the situation went unanswered yesterday evening.