WESTMORELAND, Jamaica – There was a physical altercation between a teacher and a male student at the Belmont Academy in Westmoreland last week.

A video of the incident surfaced on social media showing the teacher and the student in a tussle.
The footage shows the teacher flipping the student to the ground before the fight continued on the ground with both of them interlocked.

Screams could be heard from onlooking students, one of whom warned, “You a guh get expel bredda”.

However, the fight continued until the interlock between the pair was broken by an intervening student.

Observer Online has made several attempts to get a comment from principal Rayan Simpson, but calls to his phone have gone unanswered.

Attempts to get a comment from the chairman were also unsuccessful.

But one parent expressed shock when she got wind of the incident.

“These are not normal children! In my time, I couldn’t dare think of that. We just have to pray for them, only God can help them,” the mother told Observer Online on condition of anonymity.

It is the latest in a string of teacher-student physical altercations over the years at Jamaican schools.

In March of last year at the Kemps Hill High school, a student is said to have gotten up into the teacher’s face before the teacher pushed him away. The student then attacked the teacher with punches, and draped and pulled the educator to the ground.

After one such incident, former president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Winston Smith controversially told educators to stand up and fight back against the attacks.

– Kimberley Peddie