Teachers and students of Harmony Secondary School, Wismar, Linden, were attacked by a gang on Monday, and one teacher and a student were injured. The gang members were armed with scissors, a knife and a piece of wood during the attack.
The gang was summoned by one of its members who is a student at the secondary school. The student was previously involved in an incident with a fellow student two weeks ago. A teacher was notified and began investigating the matter. In doing so she asked for him to return with his parents but instead he returned with the gang.
On Tuesday, teachers, parents, and students protested against the gang violence in schools.
Regional Democratic Council Vice Chairman, Mark Goring, joined teachers in the protest on Tuesday. The teacher of Harmony Secondary School who asked for the child to return with the parent, on a live broadcast by Goring said, “Yesterday we had an incident at school whereby two students of our school, they had a ‘run in’ and one got hit to his mouth and so I was investigating the matter. In investigating the matter I found out that they had an old grievance two weeks ago that they brought to the school. However trying to solve the problem I separated them and I told the boy who was the aggressor to go and bring his parents so that we can deal with the matter. He left but when he returned he returned with a group of boys. They stood outside of the compound and at that time after we recognized that that was happening we hired a car to send the other child (victim) home. When these boys saw that this boy was not going to come through the gate walking, [and that] he was going into a car, they ran into the compound, up the step, [and] by the time we recognized that was happening the children were saying ‘close that door these boys are coming with weapons.’”
The teacher explained that they tried to close the door. “We did try to close the door, myself and a few teachers, we tried bracing the door, however these boys ran up the step and kick the door open, hit the teacher to her face so she had to go to the hospital.’’
A scissors was placed to one student’s neck, while another was slapped several times in the face and another child received a severe blow with a piece of wood at the back of his head. The child who received injures to the head is hospitalized and is experiencing severe vomiting.
The teacher noted that parents came out to stand in solidarity with teachers to take a stand against the gang violence in schools. She highlighted that police protection should be at the school from Monday to Friday until school is dismissed because of the danger they are exposed to. The school’s fence situated at the back of the school was also used as an entrance to the school and as such they wish for it to be higher. They have also requested that welfare officers be at the school to deal with matters of this nature. She added that the gang is comprised of adults.
Meanwhile, Goring assured that, “as a council we stand behind the teachers and the students.”
