Corpun file 15228

The Nation, Bridgetown, 14 January 2005

Student Code Of Discipline Now In Effect

The long-awaited Student Code of Discipline has now been implemented in secondary schools across the island.

The purpose of the code is to establish uniform rules for disciplining students across the board, and to eliminate situations where the same infractions attract different punishments at different schools.

The code stipulates that each school must set up a School's Disciplinary Committee comprised of the principal or deputy principal, senior teachers, and in secondary schools, the guidance counsellor.

This committee will oversee disciplinary matters at the school and decide on serious cases which may be referred to the board of management or the Ministry of Education.

The school boards are also required by the code to form their own disciplinary committees, which are the second line of defence after the school committee.

The code lays out three violation levels and the punishments for each.

Corporal punishment and detention are allowed as disciplinary options straight across the three levels. Suspension and involvement of the police are at the highest level of disciplinary options.

The most serious violations are level three, which include assaulting a teacher, other staff or pupil, obscene calls or bomb threats, vandalism of school property, gross disrespect of a staff member, possession of an unauthorised substance and inappropriate sexual behaviour at school or in uniform.