Garcia assures school safety officers

Among the issues raised by the officers were renewal of contracts, no vacation leave, no sick leave, late payment of salaries, non-payment of gratuities and Terms of Reference for short term employment.

Expressing empathy for the plight of the officers, Garcia praised them for the critical role they play in reducing the level of school indiscipline and violence.

He said, “We have noticed that the incidents of school violence have decreased tremendously and we believe the school safety officers have played a significant role in allowing us to achieve this objective and I want to thank you.” Also in attendance were Dr Lovell Francis, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education and a team of senior officials including Permanent Secretary Lenor Baptiste-Simmons, Chief Education Officer Harrilal Seecharan, Deputy Permanent Secretary Chanwati Sookra, Advisor to the Minister of Education Cheryl Ann-Wilkinson and Assistant Security Manager Lancelot Samuels.

The School Safety Officer Programme was first established in 2004 by former Education Minister Hazel Manning.