In Brief
- Misplaced discipline: Former Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly has criticised Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s call for teachers to send misbehaving students ‘straight home.’
- Root causes ignored: Gadsby-Dolly argued that indiscipline is often a symptom of deeper issues—such as hunger, abuse, or learning disabilities—which are not resolved by sending children back to troubled homes.
- Risk of criminality: The St Ann’s East MP warned that dismissing disruptive students from school will not cure indiscipline, but will instead push them onto the streets and contribute to national crime.
- Call for support: Condemning the government for dismantling the Student Support Services Division (SSSD), Gadsby-Dolly urged the state to reinstate critical interventions and residential programmes like MILAT to help at-risk youths.
By Alicia Chamely
Sending misbehaving children home is not a disciplinary solution, says St Ann’s East Member of Parliament and former Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly as she criticises Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar’s call for teachers to send disruptive students “straight home.”
On Sunday via her social media page, Persad-Bissessar addressed teachers on the eve of the new academic year.
Addressing indiscipline faced by educators, Persad-Bissessar stated, “I strongly urge you (teachers) to adopt a zero-tolerance policy to disrespectful and misbehaved students and parents. Don’t stress out yourselves trying to help persons who don’t want to be helped. If students refuse to behave properly and parents are ignoring your concerns, send them straight home and let them and their parents battle it out in their house.”
Referring to this approach to indiscipline as “placing a plaster on a sore,” Gadsby-Dolly admonished Persad-Bissessar’s call, stating, “It is all well and good to say send students who misbehave home… but for many students, HOME is a problem; and their misbehaviour is the symptom of much bigger issues.”
Taking to her social media on Monday, Gadsby-Dolly stated misbehaviour was caused by many factors, none of which were properly addressed by sending students home.
She stated, “Hungry children misbehave, abused children misbehave, children with undiagnosed learning disabilities misbehave, angry children misbehave, children who lack attention misbehave… So how does sending them home address the root causes of their problems?”
“It is simplistic to simply say send them home… not that misbehaviour is to be excused, but if you experience what home is like for many of them, you would understand more deeply why they act as they do,” she argued.
Gadsby-Dolly said this “misbehaviour” was where programmes like the Student Support Services Division (SSSD) came in, as well as interventions through the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services.
Admonishing the government for dismantling the SSSD and failing to renew the contracts of specialised staff, she asked, “What chance is the education system giving those who need help the most?”
Gadsby-Dolly argued sending troubled students home would contribute to criminality and would not curb school indiscipline.
She stated, “What do we expect the outcome of sending misbehaving children home to be? Because trust and believe that they are not going to stay home… we will find them in the streets with guns, in the prisons, and inside our homes…”
“Sending misbehaving children home will not cure the problem of school discipline; nor will it help thousands of students and parents who need counselling, guidance and support to overcome their challenges and succeed educationally,” she stated.
Gadsby-Dolly said to combat indiscipline in schools, the root of misbehaviour must be addressed through specific interventions and programmes.
She therefore called on the government to reinstate programmes aimed at providing support for at-risk students.
Gadsby-Dolly said, “Restore the Student Support Services Division; boost the available support from the education sector to address the root causes of misbehaviour. Restore and boost MILAT and Youth Camps—provide a residential alternative for those students who need to totally change their environment to become productive citizens.”
