By Leonardo Blair, Staff ReporterA MALE teacher was allegedly stabbed several times by a 16-year-old student at the Clan Carthy Comprehensive High School in Kingston during a fight yesterday.
The student who the Vineyard Town Police say was also stabbed and treated at hospital, is now in police custody.
Allegations are that at about 9:40 a.m. the teacher reprimanded another student over the use of a cell phone. The 16-year-old student, who is said to be a relative of the one being chided, heard that his relative was being beaten by the teacher and went to intervene. Reports from the school are that the teacher told him to move away from the door.
A fist fight ensued between the two before the knife was allegedly used by the student to stab the teacher several times in the chest and back. He was also bitten on his upper lip. The student also received stab wounds to the finger and to the chest.
The police say the teacher who is now in a stable condition at hospital will be charged for wounding while the student has already been charged with felonious wounding.
An apparently frustrated Clan Carthy principal, Trevor Samuels said yesterday that he had spoken to the students about violence in schools about two hours before the incident and was shocked by what had happened.
When asked what was being done to keep weapons out of the school he said, there were occasional searches." We collect the weapons when we find them but it is impossible to do searches everyday," he added.
He also explained that when searches are done in the school it is the students who have less reason to be searched who are searched, while the minority who carry weapons find innovative ways of eluding search parties. "How will more searches assist us?" he asked.
Just over the weekend, Education Minister Burchell Whiteman, called for a zero-tolerance approach to weapons in the nation's schools and called on school administrations to make mandatory searches when necessary with the help of the police.
Last Wednesday, a security guard, Damion Redley, was attacked and stabbed several times in his back, neck, head and shoulder allegedly by five students from the Calabar High School. The boys are now on the run.
On May 6, two students were injured and seven were arrested when rival gangs armed with cutlasses, knives and stones clashed at the Frome Technical High School in Westmoreland. One boy who was arrested in this incident is believed to have fled the island.
