By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Chief Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
POLICE and the Ministry of Education are investigating an incident at a public school where a boy was allegedly beaten by an administrator.
The announcement of the investigation came after advocacy group Rights Bahamas called on the Minnis administration and the Ministry of Education to address an incident of corporal punishment at C H Reeves Junior High School as a violation of both human rights and child laws.
A boy was reportedly beaten by an official after he allegedly verbally disrespected his teacher on Tuesday morning.
Since then, a photo purportedly of his visibly bruised posterior has been circulated on social media.
“The Ministry of Education’s attention is drawn to an image circulating (on) social media of what appears to be a child’s exposed buttocks with a caption that indicated a presumed beating of the child at one of our public junior high schools,” the ministry noted in a statement issued yesterday.
“The ministry has commenced an investigation in the matter and will be making a public statement when that investigation concludes. In the meantime, the ministry advises that it acknowledges, respects and protects the inherent (dignity) and sacred value of all persons. It guards most especially the critical values of the very vulnerable children in its care, and is most jealous of its responsibility to ensure their safety and optimum health - be it physical, psychological, mental, spiritual, intellectual, social and cultural.
“Therefore, the ministry will not tolerate, in any circumstances, the maltreatment, abuse or neglect of any child or person under its jurisdiction whatsoever, howsoever. To the extent that the Ministry becomes aware that any such illegal, unethical or unacceptable behaviour has been or is being committed, it will be addressed with the swiftest repudiation and sanction by this ministry.”
Meanwhile Rights Bahamas Education Committee Chairman Dawrin Thompson told The Tribune he suspected the photo was initially shared among the student’s family, but has since gone viral.
“School just opened on Monday,” Mr Thompson said. “Allegedly a young man was beaten at C H Reeves. It was reported the young man said things to his teacher, and the vice principal took action and beat him, which caused bruising on his posterior.
“There are also pictures of his posterior posted being circulated in FB (Facebook) groups,” Mr Thompson said, “and that’s considered pornographic. The family were probably not being aware of what they were doing at the time.”
In a statement yesterday, Mr Thompson and Ronelle King, chairwoman of RB’s Committee for Gender Equality and the Rights of the Child, called on officials to publicly correct the incident - which they dubbed a violation of the student’s human rights.
The pair cited the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – international treaties the Bahamas has acceded to, as well as the Child Protection Act.
“Rights Bahamas also calls on the staff of C H Reeves to revisit corporal punishment methods within their school,” the statement read.
“We instead suggest that the school adopt an inclusive punishment method that does not include the public degradation of students within their system. These methods can include, but are not limited to; after school programmes, counseling and community consultation, NGO involvement in after-school programme implementation.”
It continued: “It has been proven that implementing non-physical methods of punishment within schools positively reinforces effective communication practices and reduces the tendencies of violent problem resolution.”
RB called on the public to stop sharing alleged pictures of the student as it was considered pornographic.
Corporal punishment is a hot button issue for the country with fierce proponents on both sides.
Section 62 of the Child Protection Act outlaws physical abuse; however, Section 110 of the Penal Code outlines conditions for the use of force in correcting a child for misconduct.
An Inter-American Development Bank study last year ranked the Bahamas high among countries in the Caribbean that have tolerance or understanding for hitting women or correcting children with physical punishment.
The report was titled “How safe are Caribbean Homes for Women and Children? - Attitudes toward Intimate Partner Violence and Corporal Punishment.”
In response to the question of whether to correct a child who misbehaves was it necessary to hit or physically punish a child, more than 70 percent of Bahamians said it was “always” or “most often” or “sometimes” necessary.
Nearly 80 percent of Bahamians said they had “always,” “most often” or “sometimes” been hit or physically punished as a child to correct bad behaviour.
In March, Education Minister Jeff Lloyd told The Tribune children should be beaten in schools only if all other options have been exhausted and in the most egregious of circumstances.
His comments came after a district superintendent in West Grand Bahama and Bimini, in reaction to a viral video of a child in agony from complications stemming from an alleged beating by a school administrator two years ago, said the practice may be discontinued.
At the time, Mr Lloyd said education officials may revise school policies on corporal punishment, insisting modern research shows it to be an ineffective way of disciplining children.
Yesterday, police said the matter is being investigated.
Comments
tell_it_like_it_is 5 years, 7 months ago
I support corporal punishment but I think that it should limited to the hands. Way back when... I remember an administrator who they called 'ole man Archer' (he was like 90 - at least it felt that way) who all students were afraid of but he only disciplined in the hands with his cane.
No student ever felt abused and there were never any marks, but everyone were always on their P's and Q's when he passed by. [But alas, that was a different time and a different generation!]
John 5 years, 7 months ago
But yet we have triple digit murders for almost a decade! And a teacher/ administrator tries to discipline a child and teach him manners and respect that he obviously did not learn at home and he/she gets called out and dragged over the coals. In my days in school if you got a beating from a teacher and went home and complain about it you got another cut hip. The rationale was , "da teacher ain't gone beat you for nothing." And you ain't ger be going about making me shame. Then a few years down the road or even less than that, this same boy start smoking dope and start acting like his head twist on wrong. The parent can no longer discipline him. So the police are called for whom this time?
bogart 5 years, 7 months ago
See ....Tribune article... 'School beaings must be very last resort' Monday, March5 , 2018 by Rashad Rolle. See 1st paragraph "Children should be beaten in schools only if all other options have been exhausted and in the most egregious of circumstances, Education Minister, Jeff Lloysd, pictured has said." In the article it alas refers to University rrsearch in Bahamian homes that 77% of children gets spznked. Where Human Rights group is involved it appears dat this child may likely be a Haitian child, close knit shanty town communities where it seems that they dont gets spanked....but it is the law in Bahamian govt school.....so da Minister who says that all children innthe Bahamas must get schooling an no school officials must ask nationality whether they or parents lrgally here....now has to decide .....
licks2 5 years, 7 months ago
I suggest that you go to UB and read that research for yourself. . .that research referred to homes within the whole Caribbean. . .NOT SCHOOLS!! If Darwin takes time to read those conventions that he so readily refer to he would see that he is way off in his statements!! The Bahamas refused to take on a few articles in that convention. . .not spanking a child at all was one of them!! If Darwin them take time to read and not just shooting their mouths off they will find that the S.C. McPherson Long QT death case was already taken to court and the teacher was acquitted!! The new policy for the government school was only administration were to beat STUDENTS!! THAT CASE AND RULING WAS ABOUT 18 YEARS AGO!
John 5 years, 7 months ago
So its ok for a student to verbally abuse teachers and/or administrators.. should he have just been kicked out of school or suspended?
ohdrap4 4 years, 10 months ago
actually it is ok. teachers will tell you of repeatedly being abused by students, and it takes years for a student to be expelled and, they are not made to apologize.
kids love being suspended, it is a mini vacation.
licks2 5 years, 7 months ago
Mr. Thompson seem to be a loosed cannon with a chip on his shoulder for Bahamian governments. . .he is not born Bahamian. . .came here as a child from DR. . .he had no automatic status. . .even though he grew up here from aged 5 years. . .he came up on the case where he had no rights to Bahamian status unless adopted by his DR mother's Bahamian husband!! The Bahamian government gave him all benefit as any Bahamian child. . .he found himself in limbo because he had no easement rout into citizenship!! He found himself a DR citizen. . .with no right to Bahamian citizenship! I understand the pressure he had being the "outside" person in his family. . .as it related to mother and siblings becoming citizens. He needs to slow the hell down and read those conventions carefully before shooting off his mouth in public. . .he is very brilliant. . .but soooo misguided. . .
bogart 5 years, 7 months ago
PEOPLE WE MISSING OUT ...SOMETING HERE............BIG TIME.......... HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP .....CITING DIS LAW....DIS CONVENTION FOR DA CHILD..........MUDDA TEC.... SIC DRED...............SO MONKEY ONCLE.......WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RIGHTS OF THE .....SCHOOL TEACHER....??????...VERBALLY ABUSED....THREATENED....DEMORALISED......?????AUTHORITY....DESTROYED.....????...NAME TARNISHED....REPUTATION...AS TEACHER....WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE ....RIGHTS OF THE REST OF SCHOOL CHILDREN...??????... TO BE ABLE TO LEARN WITH SOME BAD CHILD SUCKING UP THEIR VALUABLE TEACHING TIME........?????.....WHAT THE HELL HAPPENEN TO PORE BAHAMIAN TAXPAYERS PAYING ALL DOS MONEY FOR SCHOOLING OF THE BAHAMIAN NATIONS YOUTH.....??????......and the endless man hours investigating...????.....disrespect lowering of teachers esteem...ability to deliver other lessons...without fear....?? OF ABUSE BY SOME CHILD........SAVE THE PORE TAXPAYERS AN..IF CHILD IS NON BAHAMIAN....PUT THEM ON THE NEXT PLANE OUT OF THE COUNTRY....!!!!!!!!!
geostorm 5 years, 7 months ago
@Bogart, that's why our Bahamian society is in a state of moral decay. Children are being allowed to disrespect authority and then we have people turn around and say.... their "rights" have been violated. Well if you don't want your child's "rights" to be violated, then keep them at home and teach them respect and discipline! No child should be allowed to disrespect a teacher under any circumstance.
What message does that send? The majority of teachers sacrifice so much to teach these children, many of whom come from broken homes and lack basic social skills. Teaching is not an easy task and for some group( Rights Bahamas) filled with foreign nationals to talk nonsense, is a slap in the face of our teachers!
Put him out of school, somewhere he can learn discipline and respect! Mr Jeff Lloyd you all are walking on thin ice, thread carefully!
hrysippus 5 years, 7 months ago
The country is fortunate that we have brave people such as Rights Bahamas Education Committee Chairman Dawrin Thompson who are unafraid to call out the Educator who reportedly inflicted such horrible physical abuse on this child. There will be people who direct spiteful comments at him but I hope he knows that he does have support from the more educated and compassionate members of our little country, few though they may be.
themessenger 5 years, 7 months ago
So are you suggesting that the student should go unpunished for telling the teacher about her private parts in front of the class? Please go to the head of the class!
hrysippus 5 years, 7 months ago
Hi MessySir, I am sorry to give the impression that I think this child should go unpunished, The child should definitely be punished but this child also should not be physically abused. I don't even think that husbands should be allowed to beat their wives, but that probably just shows how dumb and stupid I am.
themessenger 5 years, 7 months ago
Back at ya Hissyfit, like you I don't believe in either child or wife beating but lack of discipline in this country has brought us to where we are today, in the schools , in the home and on the streets. I, for one, cannot say our society is a better place as a result. As a child of the fifties who was raised in a home where corporal punishment was the norm for unacceptable behavior, I cannot say that a few good cut ass turned me into a psychopath, but it certainly taught me manners and respect for my betters and elders. .
Porcupine 5 years, 7 months ago
hrysippus,
I appreciate your perspective, your ability to articulate, and your strength in being one of the few who have real sense in these matters.
bogart 5 years, 7 months ago
Mr. Darwin Thompson needs to immediately arrange for therapy for the Teacher AND the rest of the class who witnessed this traumatic harrowing incident ...this would leave a mark on the students witnessing this verbal abuse in filthy language on a profession teacher authority figure and would certainly affect them for the rest of their lives The incident now played out on social media also impacts the dedicated hard working of the entire school an the entire teachers in the school systen. Schoole, Teachers and other students have rights too...!!!!
geostorm 5 years, 7 months ago
that's correct!
sheeprunner12 5 years, 7 months ago
Talk is cheap .......... Tell the Minister to change the laws and policies on corporal punishment or shut up ......... These enlightened fools tote cut-ass themselves as children and probably did the same to their children in secret ............. Lloyd himself bragged about how his Grammy used to cut his ass as a boy in Long Island (and look at how he turned out!!!).
hrysippus 5 years, 7 months ago
Het, Cheaprunner12, I think I am probably one of those people who you insult by calling " enlightened fools". I can not speak for others but I was never beaten by my parents and as a parent I have never beaten any of my children. Most all of them happily married with children of their own. They, like me, despise adults who physically abuse those they have power over,
John 5 years, 7 months ago
SCHOOL JUST OPENED ON MONDAY, and already this boy (our teachers used to say they are the only adult in the classroom), so this boy is trying to take control of the class early by verbally abusing the teacher in front of the class. Juggling for control. A total "dis" that has to be checked! In most Bahamian homes that would not only result in a cut hip, but that boy would not be allowed back into that house until he sincerely apologized to the person he assaulted. Sincerely apologize. And he would only be let back in the home on the condition that he understood if it happened again, he would be kicked out permanently. When you make your bed hard, you lay down hard..in the streets ma boy. And sometimes is the parents that need cut skin too cause they don't have no discipline.
concernedcitizen 5 years, 7 months ago
Stop living in the dark ages .There are far to many studies that conclude corporal punishment and beating children makes many of them anti social and teaches them to deal w conflict resolution by physical means ..We have been beating the snot out of kids ,sometimes in anger , forever and we have a violent society w a murder rate like a war zone .Don,t give me anecdotal evidence about I was spanked and I turned out all right . The last study was over 50 years and a 140,000 children .There are other ways to discipline .Why do the Nordic countries where corporal punishment is illegal have the lowest crime rates and violence on the planet ..Don,t say we don,t whup kids anymore ,,nonsense I see us whipping the snot out of them all the time ,,if the Bahamas was a lab for does corporal punishment work ,,I say ,only in making more violent teens and young adults ,,And spare the rod was about using the hook on the staff to guide sheep back ,,not beating kids ..Used like pay Caesar what is due caeser was not put in until king james was having trouble collecting taxes ,, Come out of the dark ages
bogart 5 years, 7 months ago
....Living in da dark ages......muddoes dred.....we living in da dark ages...why even the Human rights people file injunction about stopping the govt demolishing Shantytowns ----they needs to google shantytowns...hehhehheh....this go round they against spanking as wrong....dey jus more mix up than conch salad....!!!
concernedcitizen 5 years, 7 months ago
how has all that spanking ,beatings etc been working out for us ??Don,t say we don,t spank ,whup anymore that's BS we beat the snot out of kids ,,many times in anger and frustration and all we produce is more anti social youth and young adults that solve conflicts physically ,,the proof is in the pudding we are a violent dangerous society w the good people locked behind bars in their homes at night
TalRussell 5 years, 7 months ago
Fundamentally, this is not how our government is suppose work.... they've all lost their fuc#ing marbles.
The 39 who sit as MP's were voted up House by you, the people, making them a reflection of the very people who elevated them up House. The minister Comrade Jeff is a reflection of you the people when he said "Education officials may revise school policies on corporal punishment, insisting modern research shows it to be an ineffective way of disciplining children."
ashley14 5 years, 7 months ago
The wording of administration beating a student. That isn't corpul punishment, that's abuse. No punishment and abuse both create unhealthy and stable adults. Consistent healthy influence with reasonable punishment and equally praise when deserved. Everyone is different but usually you can teach good behavior with extreme measures. One person can't do it by themselves. There is truth to it takes a village to raise a child. It goes back to family values. Neighbors being there for one another. When we work together it works out for everyone. Kids raising theirselves doesn't work.
joeblow 5 years, 7 months ago
If Rights Bahamas is involved this simply means a Haitian child was disciplined in a public school and it was unacceptable to them!
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