EDUCATION Minister Dr Michael Dowlath has reported that more than 1,000 students were suspended during the first term of the 2025/2026 school year. He added, however, that school violence has been significantly reduced since the implementation of the School Oriented Policing Initiative.

Dowlath was responding to questions in the Senate on Tuesday by Opposition Senator Melanie Roberts-Radgman. Roberts-Radgman sought to determine, with respect to instances of school violence during the September-to-December 2025 academic term, the number of students suspended or expelled, as a consequence of school violence; and the measures implemented to rehabilitate those students suspended or expelled from school and/or placed in the criminal justice system during the said period.

Dowlath said from September to December 31, a total of 1,050 pupils were suspended from schools across the system. No pupils were expelled, Dowlath said. He went on to state the Ministry of Education does not treat student suspensions lightly, and the measure is not viewed as a punishment but is used where the order and safety of a school is being threatened.