Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves says that the proposed presence of police in schools to deal with school violence is the wrong approach.
“I am saying that this is a matter on which there has to be a thorough, ongoing national conversation: I am not supporting taking police and putting them by the schools,” Gonsalves said on Wednesday on “Morning Comrade” on Star Radio.
“We must have a national consultation on this; we would create more problems with this heavy-handed approach,” he added.
Recently, lawyer and social commentator Jomo Thomas also publicly criticised the measure outlined by National Security Minister St. Clair Leacock to place police officers in schools across St. Vincent and the Grenadines to curb violence.
Leacock announced that Assistant Commissioners of Police Benzil Samuel and Hezron Ballantyne would be in charge of school security, saying that school violence was a matter of concern for the government.
Thomas, a former speaker of the House of Assembly, however, cautioned that the move could militarise the education system, resulting in a heavily securitised learning environment for students, such as what is seen in countries such as the United States, where students in some public schools are subjected to metal detectors, electronic gates and armed guards.
Meanwhile, Gonsalves said that it was one thing to have a senior police officer assigned to the Ministry of Education to work in an advisory capacity.
“But if you do not address certain fundamental, socioeconomic and educational matters, the security in the schools would not be able to be dealt with properly,” said Gonsalves, a former minister of national security.
“And the solution that you are talking about by putting police in schools would become a problem in itself, which would require some other solution,” he said.
The opposition leader explained that since his government introduced universal secondary education in September 2005, resulting in more students in secondary schools, there will be more complicated problems ranging from social to economic issues in their homes.
Similarly, some students will have to deal with learning limitations, including conditions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or dyslexia.
“So, teachers have to be trained to properly identify them, and you have to have resources to deal with it,” said Gonsalves, whose Unity Labour Party was voted out of office in November, after 25 years.
Having a heavy-handed approach was not going to work, he said.
“And if that is what the government has in mind, they will create more problems,” said Gonsalves, who was prime minister during his government’s 25 years in office.
Gonsalves said that it was being said that SVG and its schools are being overrun by gangs.
He, however, contended that, as a former prime minister, he was in touch with what was happening in schools.
The opposition leader said that while there were disciplinary issues, the government ought not to formalise the facts and look for theories to explain the cause, only to provide the wrong solutions.
“We have a challenge, but it’s not of the magnitude — I am not underestimating the problem, but it is not of the magnitude that it is being presented that you need heavy-handed policing in schools,” the opposition leader said.
Gonsalves said teachers needed to feel safe and he acknowledged that some students can be violent and have exhibited violent actions.
“But it is not of such a widespread nature to justify a heavy-handed approach,” the opposition leader said.
For nearly a quarter of a century, Gonsalves was the “World Statesman” and the minister of national security. Today, he speaks of school violence as if it were a sudden weather event that appeared only after the November 2025 landslide election. To hear him warn against a “heavy-handed approach” feels, to many, like a captain criticising the rescue boat for being too loud after his own ship hit the iceberg.
My question is, what does the improved security measures has to do with the learning limitations and other learning deficits in the schools?
Give me an aspirin!
We have been burying our heads in the sand for a very long time as it relates to criminal activities and criminal behaviors by our youths.
We have to take action to combat and curb the proliferation of criminal behavior in our schools. I’m of the view that students should be randomly searched when they are entering the school plant (meaning utilizing metal detectors to scan their person and their bags physical examined before they enter the school premises).
The increased and improved security measures are not an option, they are a necessity!
Pharo,,u couldn’t make a difference as a leader in svg,with all the violence, guns and drugs running in schools,,u clearly failed as a leader and minister of security! Ur opinions has no effect!