GANGSTERS SHUT DOWN SCHOOL IN TRINIDAD

GANGSTERS, some dressed in school uniform, yesterday planned to infiltrate the Chaguanas North Secondary school to shoot a teacher plus students linked to a rival gang.
But plans for the invasion and possible mass murder in the school were scuttled when a pupil who is a gang-member flagged down a teacher who was driving to school and told him what was to come.
This shocking revelation was related by TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) head Devanand Sinanan at a news briefing yesterday at Tower D, International Financial Centre, Port-of-Spain.
Education Minister Anthony Garcia and Minister in that Ministry Dr Lovell Francis were present at the press conference.
The planned gang warfare in the school sent teachers and students into a panic so much so that classes were cancelled for the day.
However, the battle was deterred by the presence of seven soldiers in a TT Regiment vehicle.
One of the soldiers, went to collect his child’s school report book, but decided to stay on with his fellow soldiers to secure the compound, while a report was made to the Chaguanas Police Station.
Sinanan complained that the Chaguanas police never showed up at the school.
It was alleged that officers at that station previously declined to deal with reports of student misconduct at this school.
Sinanan said staff are scared to work as they face threats from pupils aligned to gangs in Chaguanas, as manifested in threatening graffiti and recent seizure of guns and drugs on the school compound.
“A teacher was flagged down by a student and alerted to the fact that there is going to be a shootout in the school. It stems from activities which are external to the school and the fact that one student, the day before, was taken down to the police and charged with a particular offence.
“The students from one gang decided that they intend to exact revenge.
“Apparently students who belong to that gang loaned (school) uniforms to persons who are not students of the school so they could have gained easy access to the school this morning.
“Thankfully a student from the other gang flagged down the teacher and alerted him about what was to unfold,” Sinanan said.
Minister Garcia said MTS had promised him to beef up security staff by Monday and he will visit the school next Tuesday, as he will be in Tobago on Monday for a National Consultation on Education.
Sinanan revealed that classes were suspended over the past week due to a spate of threats and violent acts by pupils linked to community gangs.
Sinanan said teachers blamed a halving of security (from eight to four officers) for more cases of indiscipline, including debarred pupils scaling the fence and writing gang-related graffiti on the walls and desks.
“There were also reports of guns being brought onto the compound by these students. The police have been continuously alerted to deal with drug-possession, robberies, extortion, physical and verbal assaults on teachers and acts of violence.
“One of the latest episodes saw a Form Two student on Monday sustaining serious head injuries after he was attacked by a Form Four student with a chair,” Sinanan said.
A concerned Sinanan revealed that Chaguanas Police Station told the school’s principal not to send them her errant pupils.
The TTUTA head saying this has not been his experience at other police divisions. He said the school staff want more MTS guards, CCTV cameras, the return of school safety officers, plus more support from the police.
They also want the temporary removal of gang-linked pupils who threaten the safety of staff and students and revival of supervised, off-site suspension centres.
He said TTUTA wants the Ministry to take immediate steps to work with the school authorities to restore order and normalcy, even as he hailed teachers for enduring work conditions under which they are daily threatened.
Garcia said yesterday’s case was serious as it involved non-pupils.
He said the Ministry takes infractions of discipline very seriously and has issued a circular as to how to deal with errant pupils.
Saying those involved in yesterday’s matter must feel the full brunt of the law, he said everyone must now put heads together to ensure no repeat.
All schools must be places of safety, Garcia said, and the current scourge of violence must be ended.
Minister Francis said a meaningful intervention is now needed for both victims and perpetrators of school violence, the latter whom simply cannot just be suspended at home during which time their misconduct would be reinforced.
Garcia said the National Parent/ Teachers Association (NPTA) and Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon, were both been invited to yesterday briefing but both were unavoidably absent.