Trinidad and Tobago: PM Kamla Persad defends armed Police presence in High-Risk Schools

Trinidad and Tobago: The Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago has firmly defended the School-Oriented Policing Initiative, on Saturday, March 28, which involves stationing armed police officers in high-risk schools to combat rising classroom violence and bullying.

She also rejected discontinuation of the stationing of armed forces in the schools which might put the lives of the students at risk and can lead to such incidents that might be dangerous for everyone in schools.

The Prime Minister issued this statement on her Facebook page as an official government release, in which she highly condemned the opposition People's National Movement

PNM party, who wants to remove police protection for children from the schools.

In a statement she mentioned that the stationing of armed police officers were and are important for the safety of the children and educators, while highlighting that citizens of the nation always comes first.

She also emphasised that this act of the opposition shows who they actually are as they don’t care about any citizens of the nation except themselves. Previously also they defended the criminals and gang violence activities which are dangerous for us and our country.

Talking about the implementation of police in 50 high-risk schools, the Prime Minister declared that “sacred spaces for learning” would no longer be ‘battlegrounds” as the children will enjoy fully without fearing anything and teachers will also teach peacefully.

She also emphasized that the teachers and students have a right to feel safe from assault and intimidation at the place where they come to teach and gain knowledge. Kamala further highlighted that her administration will always remain committed to ensuring safe learning environments across the country.

“This issue was discussed in the parliament where valuable time of the members was spent in arguing against maintaining police presence on school compounds or not,” she said while describing the position as troubling. She further stated that this was not an issue to discuss because the ongoing concerns about student safety and incidents of violence within schools are very high and to combat that we have to place police officers in schools.

At the end of her statement she emphasised that “the government is focused on improving the standards of the schools and education system while strengthening the protection of the students all over the nation.”

This statement of hers is widely appreciated by some people but some also criticized it including the opposition party as they commented that “placing armed forces in the school will criminalize the school environment and create an atmosphere of fear for the children," while some defended it by saying “it will not harm them instead it will save them from any crime or violence.”