Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

Concerns have been raised about the screening and monitoring of teachers, following an incident at the St. George's Girls and Infant School yesterday morning.

The incident led to a teacher with a history of mental illness being removed from the institution for disruptive behaviour.

President of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica, Sylvester Anderson, said yesterday he believed teachers should be checked before they were placed in classrooms.

"Certainly, one would hope that the institution, when recruiting persons to interact with the children - be it a teacher, ancillary staff or otherwise - that they would have done some background check on the medical history of that person," Mr. Anderson said. "If the case is that the person has a mental problem, then that person should not be around children, and not in that setting anyway."

classes disrupted

Reports coming from the school are that classes were disrupted for a few minutes yesterday morning after parents staged a small protest demanding the removal of the teacher. The police were reportedly called in and the teacher removed.

The Gleaner has learnt that this has not been the first report of an incident in which the teacher was involved.

When asked if several reports of the incident before had not raised red flags about the children's safety, Minister of Education, Andrew Holness, who is also reviewing the teacher's file, said the previous actions of the teacher had not endangered the lives of the children.

Mr. Holness, however, said if investigations reveal that the teacher's behaviour had been overlooked by a lapse in the system then that lapse would have to be dealt with.

mark.beckford@gleanerjm.com