Education
TCI Resignations Impact
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
Students in the Turks and Caicos Islands will be short of 15 teachers this year as 13 have already indicated they will leave before September’s opening date, and two more are set to leave during the school year, increasing the number from the initial ten that resigned in late August.
Director of Education, Mr. Edgar Howell explained, “As a result of what is going on in the world, the Turks and Caicos Islands has been impacted by resignations. To date, there are 15. The opening of school will be impacted directly by 13, the other two will leave during the school year, which will give us the opportunity to have those positions filled or to have temporary appointments in them.”
Deputy Director of Education Mark Garland hinted that the resignations had come suddenly, describing them as “unforeseen”. As a result of those unforeseen resignations, the education ministry won’t be able to start school with a complete complement of staff. 
“In situations such as these, efforts would have been made to employ teachers on a temporary basis until we are able to fill those vacancies via the recruitment process.” he said.
The unfortunate aspect of the recruitment process however is that it can be lengthy, because of the significant number of steps involved. In addition to that, Garland said even after a suitable candidate has been identified, individuals may reject the offer, forcing the ministry to restart the process.
The TCI is not the only country suffering from resignations; Jamaica and the United States have reported hundreds and thousands of gaps respectively.
In a previous press conference, Minister of Education Rachel Taylor had indicated that the gaps were specialized teachers, including home economics, science, and mathematics. All three representatives assured that the Ministry is working as quickly as they can to fill the gaps
Permanent secretary in the Ministry, Wesley Clerveaux, told residents not to be alarmed at the vacancies, stressing that they had substitute teachers in place that they could call on to provide support in the meantime.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
Three boys were injured and visitation at the Cheshire Hall Medical Center in Providenciales was suspended for about 18 hours following a school brawl on Wednesday afternoon at the Clement Howell High.
“At Clement Howell High School, the safety and well-being of our students are of utmost priority. We are taking this incident very seriously and are currently conducting a thorough investigation to ascertain the root cause and circumstances that led to this regrettable situation,” The Ministry of Education said in a press release Thursday Morning.
It followed reports of a large fight that began to come in early Wednesday morning with residents reporting not just the police but the presence of an ambulance on school grounds.
By 2 p.m. communication came from the TCI Hospital that they had suspended visitation; an action usually reserved for the aftermath of violent events.
The hospital did not say why it was closing its doors, only indicating that it was for the safety of its patients and staff as well as their families.
The Ministry cleared up some of what had happened in their statement indicating that the injured students, one 15 -year-old and two 16-year-olds, had been taken to the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre for treatment.
“Contrary to reports circulating on social media, there were no further incidents at the hospital, however, as a standard precautionary measure, the hospital went on lockdown mode,” it said.
When Magnetic Media contacted the police around 4 p.m. Wednesday to find out what caused the ruckus they told us they were still on scene. Speaking to media later on they revealed the cause of the fight was still unknown but that they were using video evidence and interviews to piece it together.
Videos, shot by students, were shared with the news team, showing the extent of the fighting.
In them a large knot of boys is seen in multiple videos, some throwing punches, some kicking and pushing and some others trying in vain to separate their schoolmates. A lone white clad individual, possibly a security guard, is dragged along in the melee of fighting teens. Some are seen brandishing what appears to be rocks, which could have been used as weapons.
There were several mobs where fights broke out; mostly boys but also girls involved.
By news production time, no news had come from police of any arrests made but the hospital resumed regular operations on Thursday morning around 9:30 a.m.
The brawl comes just weeks before the Reaching the Streets initiative which is aimed at tackling violence and criminal activities in teens and young adults.
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