In Antigua and Barbuda many would have constantly viewed the shocking ordeals related to violence in schools via CNN and other news networks. They would have been thinking “only in America” and offer that such incidents would never happen in their paradise island.

On Friday, 29 Sept., 2006, however, shock waves vibrated throughout the country when news broke that a 15-year-old schoolgirl stood accused of the fatal stabbing of her 16-year-old classmate during an altercation in Swetes.

The rift between the girls is reported to have commenced earlier in the day during school hours while the girls were at All Saints Secondary School.

The accused girl, who was also injured in the fracas, was treated at the Holberton Hospital for injuries to the head and discharged.

Another teenager was also wounded in the incident.

Although there has not been any reported school-related fatalies since, quite frightening to many however, is the steady growth of school violence which has now blossomed into a raging beast too huge to be kept trapped in our children’s lunch boxes and school bags.

AGS student attacked with cutlass - Saturday, 10 February 2007 01:57

Student injured …Emergency surgery needed to save eye - Thursday, 31 May 2007 03:59

Ottos school student stabbed with scissors - Wednesday, 19 September 2007

Students hospitalised after clash between schools - Monday, 01 October 2007 17:15

Secondary school student found with gun - Wednesday, 17 October 2007 17:33

Student attacks teacher - Tuesday, 06 November 2007 15:56

Female students pull knives in Gray’s Farm brawl - Friday, 07 December 2007

Jennings teacher attacked by student – 29 Jan., 2008

Student injured during fight ... according to eyewitness – 5 Feb., 2008

Secondary school student stabbed – 3 Dec., 2008

Teen choked by fellow primary school student – 5 April, 2009

Officials investigate brawl at OCS – 16 Nov., 2009

Students stabbed by classmate – 8 Jan., 2010

Pigotts Primary School student choked by classmate - 23 Jan., 2010

These are some of the shocking headlines over the past three years, which bear the grim reality that not all children enjoy “carefree” days of childhood. And unfortunately, such acts of violence among our young people are scary to students, parents, teachers and ministry officials.

Sadly, we must admit that violence has reached unacceptable levels in our schools and 2010, while some students would like to see the back of it many accept it is now “a normal thing.”

Voices from the classroom

Princess Margaret School (PMS)
The Princess Margaret School (PMS) is one of the secondary schools on the island, which has been readily linked to student’s violence.

Over the years, there have been reports of clashes between students, some of which have been bloody and on a few occasions the police had to be called in to deal with the combatants.
Students at PMS, however, believe that the bad eggs are few and once focussed, students can avoid the phenomenon of student violence.

An 18-year-old fifth form student at the school says although she has never been involved in violence she has seen “a lot of it,” on the compound.

“There are a lot of fights and most times it is between boys from different areas. The last major fight we had was between a boy from Point and one from Cedar Grove and it was awful because it was in the middle of school and it caused a big distraction.

“I find it upsetting to know that it is one country and I don’t see why we should be fighting against each other and for no sensible reason at all. It’s rather ridiculous that they should do that being in school with their uniforms on, in the presence of teachers and others students. It’s ridiculous.”
She recalls once incident in which a boy received injury to the head. This she says made her realise that some of her schoolmates “have no love in them”.

“There was a fight one day and a boy – his head was bleeding profusely – and the other boy who was not involved was trying to hold him up.

“That happened in front of the school where everybody could see and not even the fact that other people were seeing what he was doing made him stop.”

“Why do we have so much anger?” she asks. “Some of us have no love.”

To protect herself she exercises self-control and she believes that students who cannot control their anger should learn to do so.

“Sometimes you just have to cool out and let it go…sometimes you have to just walk off and give up your right because you both have a right to believe what you believe and we should be respected for that not beaten up on.”

To her peers she says: “Stay away from violence – it goes two ways – you die in it or you kill somebody; you end up dead or in jail, and that certainly is not good.”

A 16-year-old fourth form student at PMS says he has seen violence at the school on multiple occasions.  His recent being “today, (Wednesday, 3 Feb.,) at the gate just as we were leaving school.”

“It started out with two boys having a little fun, a little play around fighting and then one just took it a little too far and one picked up a pipe – kind of steel pipe – and they started hitting each other with it.”

The teen says he is not sure who stopped the fight or how it ended, since he simply went his way.
“I didn’t stick around, I just went my way, because I felt it is unnecessary and a stupid thing to participate in.”

Although he has shared his views that violence is unnecessary, his words have fallen on deaf ears, and some students says they are unable to control themselves.

“They say is just in them and when somebody touches them a little too hard they can’t take it and they just have to answer back and with that things just escalate.

“For the most, I simply do my best to ignore them.”

The fourth former admits, however, that although he is not afraid of the “bad boys” picking on him, deep inside he fears that he might one day become an innocent victim.

“I am just afraid that one time, I may just be passing by and I might be hit and injured with something that was not meant for me and that is mostly what bothers me.

“Although I have been in near instances before I am careful with what I say because certain people can’t reason in certain ways so I just walk away and try to avoid a conflict.”

Another fifth form student at PMS believes most of the violence which occurs there is “gang related or between individuals who don’t get along or people with some kind of conflict; people don’t just pick on you like that.”

Although she has had her fair share of conflicts, they have never reached to a level where fighting was involved.

“It take two to make a fight and if I just walk off there wouldn’t be a fight and hopefully, the other individual will get the message that I do not want any trouble.”

For the three years in which she has been at the school, she has been able to quell her differences with others “quite well.” But there have been too many occasions, however, when she has witnessed violence.

“Look, when there is a fight you will know, there is always a large gathering and everybody will watch and laugh and cheer.

“Some students love the excitement and I think they are rather ridiculous because instead of telling them to stop and behave themselves, they encourage it and promote it as if it is something good.”
But, “What is there to carry on over?” she asks.

“It is useless and in the end you end up losing. You are just putting yourself at a disadvantage and you are cheating yourself out of an education because the students who crowd around and cheer are not getting suspended; they are still able to come back to school and learn their lesson and you now have to stay at home and miss out on your school work.”

Although she believes it would take some time before violence can be curtailed to an acceptable level, knowing only too well that it would never be totally eliminated, she vows not to let it deter or scare her and she is putting much trust in her principal, because “once Mr. (Collin) Greene is on the corridor nobody misbehaves because he is a no nonsense principal who wants to see Princess Margaret School do well.”