Parents of students attending the Santa Rita RC School resumed protest action yesterday claiming that the troubled child who has been disrupting classess and threatening students had returned to school.
They are now considering legal action against the Ministry of Education.
The parents say before the child, even got to the school building, told other school children in a taxi that he was coming to school to “kill somebody.”
The group, led by the school’s interim Parent Teachers’ Association (PTA) president Savitri Persad, burned tyres and blocked the two entrances to the school around 5.30 am yesterday, preventing teachers and students from accessing the building.
The smouldering debris remained on the roadway until 10 am, when a backhoe from the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation removed it.
Education Minster Anthony Garcia told Parliament last Friday the student has been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), a behaviour disorder.
Garcia said the ministry had assigned Student Support Services’ officers to the matter and they are talking with school authorities and parents to ensure “... this child, who is crying out for help, gets the attention.”
In an interview yesterday, parent Candice Sydney said although this is the third occasion they have protested, the parents are yet to get a direct answer from the Ministry of Education.
“Yesterday this child showed up without an aide, without any supervision and we are saying that we want a special place for this child to be put in — the ministry has stated that they are contacting parents, up until now, we have heard nothing from them,” she said.
Sydney said the boy disrupted classes by playing steel pan and drums while other students were sitting exams.
“Over a 100 children are at risk because of this child, our next step is to remove our children or take legal action against the ministry and we are in the process of consulting a lawyer,” she said.