Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Michael Dowlath says tack­ling school vi­o­lence will re­quire a co­or­di­nat­ed na­tion­al ef­fort in­volv­ing par­ents, ed­u­ca­tors, com­mu­ni­ties and stu­dents them­selves, as con­cern con­tin­ues to mount over a re­cent spate of vi­o­lent in­ci­dents in schools.

Re­spond­ing to ques­tions from Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Dr Dowlath said while the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion re­mains deeply con­cerned about ris­ing in­ci­dents of in­dis­ci­pline and ag­gres­sion among stu­dents, the Re­vised Na­tion­al School Code of Con­duct launched in March re­mains a crit­i­cal tool in pro­mot­ing safer school en­vi­ron­ments.

“The Na­tion­al School Code of Con­duct has pos­i­tive­ly im­pact­ed school vi­o­lence in Trinidad and To­ba­go by pro­mot­ing dis­ci­pline, ac­count­abil­i­ty, stu­dent sup­port and safer school en­vi­ron­ments,” Dr Dowlath said.