(Barbados Nation) Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw says she will not tolerate teachers who flog children when the law does not permit them to do so.
She has advised parents to report such cases to the ministry and urged police to follow through and prosecute the perpetrators.
Bradshaw voiced “zero tolerance” for corporal punishment yesterday and frowned on a recent incident in which a primary school principal reportedly flogged an entire class because a new teacher “could not handle the students”.
“I received photos of the bruises on the children’s buttocks and their backs,” Bradshaw said.
“What was interesting was that the grandparent called me because of concerns that the principal . . . instituted punishment twice. After the beating, the children were made to run around the pasture and then made to stand outside of the classroom.”
The St Michael South East MP was responding to questions from Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn, following the recent suspension of a teacher for allegedly inflicting corporal punishment on a special needs student.
