St. Lucia’s Education Minister calls for end to student loitering following stabbing incident

St. Lucia’s Education Minister Shawn Edward is urging parents to be part of the multi-pronged approach to curbing the perennial issue of student loitering following a stabbing incident involving students in the city’s center.

“If school is dismissed at 3:00 p.m., the student needs to be home by 4:30; and accountable to the parent if they are not,” he said.

“There are too many students loitering the streets and you see some at 7:00 p.m. at night still wearing their school uniforms. This is what happens when the social fabric of society begins to disintegrate,” Edward said.

Edward said neither the Ministry of Education nor the minister can singlehandedly solve the problem.

“This calls for a multipronged approach. Principals have a role, ministry officials have a role, the police they too have a role, and ultimately the parents have a role,” he said, urging parents to take greater responsibility for their children’s whereabouts.

Last month, Shawn Edward referred to an incident involving students stabbing each other with “long knives” but did not go into details.

Last week, police said they had briefly detained 17 students for possession of drugs and weapons in the classroom.

CMC/