The Ministry of Education has backed St George’s College over the suspension of a fourth form student “who brought the school into disrepute” when he posted a video to social media of a broken fan.
Permanent Secretary Dr Kasan Troupe told Wednesday morning’s post-Cabinet press briefing that “due process” was followed, confirming that the student was given a seven-day suspension with additional conditions.
These conditions outlined that the student would serve only two days outside of school and complete “rehabilitation activities” on the weekend for three Saturdays.
She said that this is a standard rehabilitation initiative implemented by the school which has proven to work for years.
“We have seen testimonials from the boys. It has helped them and today we have seen St George’s College move up the rank from a low or underperforming, in terms of what we expected, to a very high-performing school this year,” Troupe said.
She said that this has resulted in a 91 per cent success rate in the school’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate and Caribbean Examinations Council exams.
“We are definitely proud of the institution. This is an all-boys institution and we’re concerned as Jamaicans about the success of our boys and we see an institution working assiduously with its parents and partners to make sure the boys are successful,” Troupe noted.
“We support the thrust of the school to ensure that there is a high level of discipline in the school and I do believe that due process was followed in this case and the child is being further assisted with counselling as outlined by the principal,” she added.