Maraval police are investigating a report that a 12-year-old male student of Trinity College, Maraval, was sexually assaulted by another student. According to a report on some unknown date in January several students were at a swimming pool after school hours when another 12-year-old student pulled the victim under the water and sexually abused him. A few minutes later the same student attacked the victim again. Police said they were yet to take any statements from the students involved.
Contacted by telephone at the school yesterday, principal Alison Baisden said she could not comment on the matter and advised that the T&T Guardian call the Ministry of Education for information. Education Ministry officials confirmed the report, saying police were recently at the school to conduct an educational programme when the victim approached them and gave his story. Last Thursday the victim’s parents reportedly visited the school but the matter was not reported then.
“School supervision is investigating and keeping contact with the parents,” the ministry official said. In a phone interview, T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) president Devanand Sinanan said the social development of the children started at home, adding that the principal and school authorities tried their best but could only do so much. He added that another disturbing trend recently was cyber bullying at the primary and secondary school level.
“Many initiatives and programmes were tried without the success they are hoping for. Violence begins with the socialisation of the child and we need to review the way in which children are socialised and their environment. “If they are in an atmosphere of violence, either physical or emotional et cetera, they will display behaviour,” he said. Founder of Stop the Bullying, a page dedicated to eradicating bullying in schools on Facebook, Lana Maharaj-Boodoo, said a bill had to be introduced in Parliament to deal with the issue.
“This needs to stop and a bill has to be passed to deal with this issue in all schools so they will think twice about doing it,” he added. Maharaj-Boodoo created the page after her son was bullied in school and the act was videotaped and placed on a social Web site. She said she was concerned about parents who did not make reports to the police when their children were abused.