Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers
In her report to the media on Monday 15th May, 2023, during the regular Government press briefing, the Honourable Minister of Education, Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers, said it is her Ministry’s intent to provide heightened security at the schools in an effort to ward off any would-be acts of a criminal nature that may be perpetrated by outsiders on school property.
The urgent decision to ramp up security at the schools was taken subsequent to what appeared to be a threatening act in the vicinity of the Webster’s Park, where students and teachers were engaged in PE sessions. It was reported that on Thursday 11th May, 2023, during an outdoor Physical Education class, a gun-toting youngster on a motor bike rode past the students while pointing his gun in a threatening manner at them.
Minister Kentish-Rogers made no bones about implementing stricter security measures against persons with ill intent entering the schools’ properties. In another context, she specifically described the recent wave of gun activity on the island as being gang related.
In order to evaluate the current conditions of insecurity at the schools the Minister announced that a security consultant will be soon on island to assess the level of vulnerability at school premises, and make recommendations.
“The recent incident that took place at the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School (ALHCS) requires stringent security measures in order to be addressed,” the Minister stated. “We have a security update in relation to what is going to be transpiring at the ALHCS. However, of course, I cannot give the general public the full details of the security information at this time, because that would possibly undermine the process of implementing certain security protocols.”
“At the same time,” she said, “we will be bringing in a security consultant, who will be on island early next month. This security person will be updating the security infrastructure at all the schools and will provide the Ministry with a security report. We would then look at the recommendations in that report and implement some changes across the campuses.”
The Education Minister said that she mentioned ‘changes across campuses’, because every effort will be made to move into the new Comprehensive School building in September.
She said due to the fact that the new facility does not have a TVET nor a Physical Education (PE) site, it means that the TVET and PE facilities of the current school would have to be utilized. The Minister said this would necessitate implementing or increasing security protocols at the current school sites and with regard to transporting the students back and forth between locations.
In an effort to augment security, the Minister said “we met with the Commissioner of Police on two occasions to discuss the Force’s investigations into the security incidents happening at the school. One of those meetings was with the entire teaching population of the ALHCS as well as the primary schools. One can appreciate the trepidation and the concerns of teachers and students, because it goes without saying that it would not have taken much for that gun-pointing incident on the Webster Park during that PE session, to become another sad occasion in our nation.”
The Minister said that her Ministry is taking these matters very seriously, and every effort is being made to make sure that the teachers and student can feel safe at school.
