Education Ministry backs St. George's after student suspended for social media post

By Racquel Porter    

 

Amid calls for the Ministry of Education to intervene following the recent suspension of a fourth form St. George's College student, who posted a video to social media of a broken fan, the ministry has expressed support for the disciplinary action.

 

Confirming that the ministry has received a report of the seven-day suspension, Permanent Secretary Dr. Kasan Troupe said "due process" was followed. 

 

"The regulations at the school, as reported by the principal, is that students are not permitted to use their phones at school, they are not permitted to take recordings of the school and share that without the permission of the principal and the authorities involved. That was not observed, the matter was brought to the attention of the principal, the matter in the public space brought some disrepute to the institution and the outlined consequence of that is that students are normally suspended for breaches of such nature." 

 

Dr. Troupe said the conditions of the suspension outlined by the school stated that the student would serve only two days outside of school and complete "rehabilitation activities" on the weekend for three Saturdays.

 

She said this is a standard rehabilitation initiative implemented by the school which has proven to be effective in previous instances. 

 

"We have seen testimonials from the boys that it has helped them and today we have seen St. George's College move up the rank from a low or underperforming in terms of what we expected of them, to a very high performing school, with this year showing a success rate of 91% in their CSEC and CAPE examination results," she noted. 

 

Dr. Troupe said the all-boys institution has been working assiduously with parents and partners to ensure the boys are successful and that there is a high level of discipline among them.

 

She was speaking Wednesday at a post Cabinet media briefing.