Given the spate of dangerous violence that has been seen in and around schools it was only a matter of time before there was a fatality. That unfortunately occurred on November 27th when 11-year-old Mark Harrypaul succumbed to a head injury after a gate was slammed into him at the Strathspey Primary School by another boy.
Sushmita Singh, the aggrieved mother of the dead child, told this newspaper that the other boy involved in the incident was a 14-year-old student of Buxton Secondary School who would frequently go to the primary school and bully the pupils there. This she said was told to her by other parents who came forward the next day to express their concern about the incident. She said according to what her son related to her on the day of the incident, the 14-year-old student took his rag and he retrieved it. The rag was taken for a second time and when Harrypaul was attempting to take it back, the 14-year-old ran and while running slammed the gate.
There has thus far been no official statement from the Ministry of Education on this tragic death despite the fact that it has been well aware that school violence has been a severe problem requiring urgent and concerted measures. Based on the account of the mother of the child, there are various aspects of this case that have raised troubling issues that must be addressed by the ministry, the school and the police force. The first has to do with how the school itself addresses acts of violence and what it does in instances where possibly serious injuries are inflicted. In the case of Mark Harrypaul, his mother was suitably disturbed by the way in which the head teacher had handled the case.
The head teacher, after dressing the wound the child sustained with an antibiotic, sent him home on his own on foot.
Mrs Singh related that she asked the head teacher, “How can you send my child home with a burst head, [what happens] if he fall down pun the road?” To which the head teacher is said to have responded, “No, he alright, I already dressed him.”
After his condition deteriorated, the child was rushed by his father to the hospital where he succumbed. A post-mortem examination showed that the child died of a fractured skull as a result of blunt trauma to the head.
Head injuries must be treated with the utmost care and the protocol in the school system should require an immediate referral for medical attention.
The second major issue is the reported presence of a 14-year-old out of school uniform in the compound of the Strathspey Primary engaging in mischief and bullying the pupils there. If, as stated, this had been occurring for some time, the head teacher will also have to be held accountable. Was she aware of repeated intrusions of an older child without a school uniform and what did she do?
There is, of course, the allied question of the security at schools. Was there a security guard at the entrance of the school that day and if so was the guard performing his/her duty adequately? Was it the case that the older boy had on several occasions been in the school compound and interfered with the children of the Strathspey Primary? This is a question that must be properly investigated as it strikes at the heart of the security of schools and has been raised before in these columns.
It remains the case that at many of the public offices where “security’ is provided it is a joke except that the money paid out to the providers is no laughing matter and there are also concerns about the exploitation of those in their employment. This Strathspey school case should be a test of the quality of the security service being provided at taxpayers’ expense.
The police must also now be heard from on the investigation into the death of Mark Harrypaul.
In recent months this newspaper has reported on a number of incidents of serious violence in and around schools. Though not the full picture, these incidents have included violence by parents on teachers, violence by teachers on children, child on child beatings and invasions of school compounds by gang types, parents and members of the public. It has been clear for many months that as presented in these columns there is a serious security problem in the school system resulting in death – in the most recent case, serious injury like to Jamal Reid, the 16-year-old student of Golden Grove Secondary who suffered brain damage and a further deterioration in discipline and order.
Aside from dithering, what has the Ministry of Education done? It has belatedly launched a pilot programme at a city school if you please. That can in no way be an adequate response. There is an urgent problem. As has been stated before it requires an immediate revamping of security arrangements and protocols for accessing school compounds and addressing conflicts within those precincts. If there had been an immediate upgrading of security at entrances of schools with strict instructions on who can enter and under what circumstances, the November 27th incident might not have occurred. Perimeter protection is also of vital importance.
The ministry has to get cracking immediately on this problem. Or on second thought, will it now claim that this is really an issue for the Region Four education officer?
