The President of the National Principals Association (NPA), Valerie St. Helene-Henry, has expressed grave concern over a viral school bullying video on social media this week.
It involved students in uniform from the Grande Riviere Secondary School in Dennery.
The matter is currently under investigation.
In the video, some apparently older male students, one wielding a belt, accost a smaller schoolmate who pleads with them to ‘behave.’
They pin the boy against a gate, striking him, and knuckling him on the head.
“Gimme that belt garcon,” one of the aggressors demands as the boy cries out.
“It’s telling. It’s heartbreaking. I watched the video both as a Principal and as a mother of an 11-year-old boy,” NPA President Valerie St. Helene-Henry told St. Lucia Times.
She noted that the video showed the incident occurred outside the school, but said it was the learning institution’s responsibility to address the matter.
“It really broke my heart and it sends out a serious message, not to just schools, not to just Principals, not to teachers and the Minister of Education, but to the nation,” the NPA President declared.
She observed that students were acting up within and outside the school compound.
“When the children come to school, we do not teach them to be bullies. We teach them to be good citizens – how to deal with conflict. We teach them how to socialise because school is not only about academics,” St. Helene-Henry explained.
She felt the need to impart soft and other skills to shape a ‘holistic child’ and for the entire nation to get involved.
According to the NPA President, children practise what they see.
And she asserted that children see how the leaders, parents and community residents conduct themselves and deal with conflicts.
“The bullying takes place on social media, in the backyards, in the streets, and this is what is put in the youngsters’ faces and they think that is okay,” St. Helene-Henry lamented.
She said it was a critical problem requiring all hands on deck to resolve.
The NPA President told St. Lucia Times that schools must review their programmes to prioritise conflict resolution.
“The parents need to be role models,” the NPA President observed.
She noted that people expect too much of schools, while parents have an essential role to play.
St. Helene-Henry was confident that the school and the Ministry of Education would investigate the matter.
“It’s not going to just slide,” she told St. Lucia Times.
Chpzzzzzzz preference
PJP’s St. Lucia… what a ting
If these youths don’t get some licks and some time in jail, don’t waste the taxpayers money with meetings. and counseling. After licks and jail then they can apologize.
Hmmmm….those bullies should be thanking God that I’m not the kid’s father.
This happened to my child a few years ago. The police did nothing, the school did nothing! They had had all the evidence of the child saying what she’d do. Scarring people’s children for life.
IMO…the parents should be prosecuted and also we should have a bootcamp with a retired army General to sentence these unruly youths. REFLECTION OF OUR CABINET AND SOCIETY AT LARGE …TOO MUCH IS TOLERATED IN ITS INFANCY THEN ITS TOO LATE
Some children learned from what’s happening around them . Unhappy kids , hungry kids, eats starchy foods,loads of sugar , fast foods ets. Hardly eat a home cooked meal with love from their parents. Let’s eat more greens , vegetables . Smoke less weed , drink fresh waters from the heights , meditate. And give thanks to the most high god. Parents do your jobs as parents our children needs us .
This is painful
Make sure they are punished uh bon! Par just counselling
One of the many issues that contribute to the society we have today….I wonder what is going through the heads of policy makers….. society is rotten to the core…..all they know is to pray but yet still society is dysfunctional as £@#&
This is not just kid’s play. The boys who did this should be suspended forthwith for a term to begin with, pending further investigations. Sometimes they target kids who are not only smaller in size but those they feel that have “no backah.” It is prevalent at all levels of society in St Lucia. Bullying at work places tend to target those they think are not well connected or those they wish to tarnish because they are afraid (prime example- Chastanet and the SLP). We must call out bullying wherever and whenever it occurs.
A BUNCH OF HURT KIDS LOOKING FOR KIDS TO BE HURT LIKE THEM.
A student was recently choked out at the Anse Ger secondary school, and what was done…..
I believe a kid is a product of their parents, they just don’t know the right from the wrong just like the parents. While the kid do need a proper punishment, the parents cannot walk Scotch free because of their actions at home have their kid punished someone else child who will suffer for the rest of his life without healing. Teachers in some school turns a blind eyes of these evidence and it simply escalates to a different level. We must be vigilant as well what is happening in some countries about mass shooting in schools it is just a matter of time for it to happen here.
This is very painful for me. Some of us saying the children behavior is secondary to what they see. This may be true in some cases but not all. We forget what we have done to society. When a 6 Yr old can say I want to identify as a girl who was born a male. We have double standards. Pushing the agender that suits us while ignoring things until it reaches our door steps. From baby we fail to correct, admonish or guide our children saying they too young to know what they are doing. From young the child should be led in the right way like a bent tree. These kids should be held accountable for their actions and not the mother or the bullied boy. The blame should be laid solely on the perpetrators. Too long we have blamed victim’s. This should stop. With me I would give the school a chance to handle the matter. Failure to do so I would be heading to the courts.
This little young man needs MMA training which is being brought to island an showcasing this weekend I believe at beaucestjour stadium… Mixed Martial Arts, 2-3 trained moves and he can take all those big weak-as* kid bullies, ….smh where are the school security guards!?….. Bring it Momma make a spectacle out of those young bully’s calling the smaller student a bulla….. smph woi the parents of those students should be made to do community service with their little children’s…..