Yall need stop posting propaganda in the media. Returning books to a school is a part of many school criteria to walk for graduation. Graduation is a privilege NOT a must. A student who completed 5th form would not fail to be certified, they just wouldn’t get the photo op of walking across the stage. Many persons don’t go to graduation for many reasons but they receive their certificates. If the young man you claim to remember was not certified it was because filled to pass his certification not because he was unable to walk for graduation. In university, you won’t be able to graduate until ALL fees are paid, books are returned and ALL courses passed. Why do we act so brand new in Antigua when standards are set for completion and we choose not to follow. The young would have been told what he needed to do in order to graduate. He didn’t forget, he chose not to return it.

Your concerns are deeply valid and reflect a painful truth that many parents and students endure in silence. No child should be humiliated, especially not by the very individuals entrusted with their development, protection, and encouragement. The situation you described is more than just poor judgment; it’s emotional abuse, and it has no place in any classroom.

Teachers hold immense power. A single kind word or cruel remark can stay with a student for life. When that power is misused, it damages not only the child but the integrity of the education system. Accountability is essential. We must demand that teachers, like other public servants, meet a standard of empathy, professionalism, and respect. Those who fail, especially repeatedly and without remorse, must be removed for the good of our children and society at large.

But beyond individual cases, you rightly point to systemic issues: a colonial-style education system still training students for a world that no longer exists. It’s disheartening that in 2025, many of our institutions are still misaligned with the real needs of our communities. We need education that empowers local talent, fosters critical thinking, and meets the economic and cultural needs of our island nations.

The call here is not just for disciplinary action against one teacher, it is for a complete reassessment of who we allow to shape young minds and how we design education to serve a hopeful, thriving future.

Quite rightly so, Trained Teacher. I taught more than 3 decades before leaving due to health issues. Teaching has to go beyond a clinical performance of duties. A real teacher is empathetic. He/she protects the children from verbal and physical attacks from others. They should be a confidential ear, a booster other confidence, someone to celebrate the children ‘s slightest improvements!
Unfortunately, we have sterile teachers in our system. The spit out information. They mark. It is either righting wrong. They no longer correct work! They do not pick up on learning challenges in students.if they fo, they write them off as failures! They do not find ways to remediate or help. They do not reach out to the parents to work out the concerns. As a matter if fact, one teacher said nobody helped her buy her phone so she do have to have them call her on it!
If a student has a particular weakness, it does the child no good to call the child to the board to embarrass them in front of their.peers, especially if you know the child has NOT gradped the concept. Further, the child is already feeling inadequate, embarrassed, and now you punish the child by letting them stand for the remainder of the session! That is not being a good teacher!
All teachers are not like that, Ihadten to say! I have met some who are like a breath of fresh air on a foul day! I say kudos to those!
Teaching is availing! It is not a job! If you are not called, find another job! The most refreshing reward I have received is to hear past students thank me for believing in them and cheering them on to success!

That is so true.i saw a teacher damage a child self-esteem so much even up to now that person leave school and still carry the hurt

Not teachers alone big people do it to young children that’s nothing to them and when you tell them they wrong is enemy you cannot talk to a child that is 4,5,6 like you would talk to a child that is 15 they need to start taking action on them kind of people speak to a child the way you would won’t someone to talk to your child by setting and talk to them properly not shouting on them with you anger it’s bad 💯

Point taken: Teachers have a responsibility not only to educate but also to nurture. I also agree that some teachers can be harsh and tend to go overboard with disciplinary techniques at times.

However, allow me to add to the discourse, respectfully. The reality is that teachers tolerate a lot of physical and verbal abuse from the very same children in their charge and even the parents, admin, Ministry officials and society at large. Yet you will always hear about what teachers did wrong and never what the student(s) did wrong. You will also never hear what the teachers did or are doing and all the sacrifices they make for their students. I need to make it clear that NOT ALL TEACHERS ARE THE SAME and the bad ones must be dealt with on an individual basis instead of lumping all teachers together because of the actions of a few. This is especially pertinent given that a large percentage of the disrespect towards teachers stem from the rhetoric presented to children by adults that make teachers look incompetent. How can a teacher be respected if society at large does not respect them?

On the note of disrespect. Many children come to school daily, thinking that they don’t have to do any work and that they can talk to anyone as they please. They would come to school with the fanciest schoolbag, yet the bag itself only contains a shoebox (intended to maintain the shape of the bag, apparently). Yes, students are coming to school every day as normal, without books or even a pen – just a shoebox in their bags. They are also adamant about their phones, pulling it out anytime anywhere and even putting up physical fights and hurling verbal threats and insults when the phone is confiscated. Ironically, the same teachers have to assist with locating the phone when it is stolen. How is that right??

While we’re calling out teachers, let’s also call out the parents who enable these children in their wrongdoings. Parents, STOP spoiling them by giving them the nicest of everything even when they don’t deserve it and have done little to nothing to earn it. STOP pepping them up for school every morning by telling them “if anybody knack u knack them back” or “tell teacher me na send u a school fu clean up after numbady” (apparently not even after dem own self) or “if you wan go bathroom and teacher na give U permission den walk out”, just to name a few. The tone these parents give these tidbits of advice also make it clear that teachers are supposed to tolerate any and everything from students because “that a wa dem a get pay fa”. These are words I hear coming out of parents mouths with my own ears. So now that you have instilled disrespect and even disdain in those young minds, teachers are “supposed to” teach them and be nice to them? What about a mature and respectable dialogue with the teacher to see how parent and teacher can work together for the child’s benefit? That’s laughable, given the amount of parents who are absent from any and all meetings called by the school.

Finally, let us please be mindful that teachers are humans too. They tolerate alot because they care but understand that their kindness gets abused daily. They get tired and frustrated too. In fact, many teachers feel unappreciated, demotivated and depressed, especially when they are bashed by the public. Let us also recognize the good with the same emphasis as the bad and let us hold all parties responsible in child education.