Students at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College are expressing outrage after a lecturer allegedly threatened not to mark their School-Based Assessments (SBAs) and refused to continue teaching the class unless one student left his classroom. The conflict arose after the student reportedly refused to complete an assignment and declined to write 250 lines as punishment.
In a recording obtained by Asberth News Network (ANN), an exchange between the lecturer and the students reveals the escalating tension. The lecturer entered the classroom, called the roll, and asked, “Who has my lines?” Students who were absent were informed that 200 lines would be added to the original 250.
The confrontation continued when the lecturer questioned the particular student about the lines:
“You did the lines?” he asked.
“No,” the student replied.
“You’re disrespectful,” the lecturer responded.
“No sir, I do respect you, but I am not writing any lines,” the student insisted.
The lecturer then demanded that the student leave the classroom or risk having her SBA unmarked. “Leave my class, or your SBA won’t be marked,” he stated firmly. When the student asked why, the lecturer responded, “Because this is my class.”
Despite the ultimatum, the student refused to leave, maintaining, “I do respect you.” The lecturer then addressed the rest of the class, urging them to encourage the student to leave, stating, “It’s in your best interest for your education because I won’t mark your SBA or continue to teach this class.”
During the recording, the lecturer expressed his frustration, saying, “When y’all take information to your parents, take the whole truth.” He also lamented the challenges of teaching at the college, commenting, “It’s frustrating teaching here because most of the students behave like primary school children, and I will treat them as such.”
The lecturer warned that he would stop teaching the class if the “disrespectful young lady” did not leave. He then concluded the session by stating, “Have a good day. I’m out.”
Administrative Response
When contacted by ANN, Dean of the Community College, Mr. Maxwell Fergus, confirmed that the matter was reported to him. He said he advised the student to “do the lines and move on.” However, when asked if this was an official policy of the college, he became dismissive, stating, “I am busy.”
Shortly after speaking with the Dean, the lecturer, identified as Mr. Hazelwood, reached out to ANN to provide his side of the story. He explained, “I distributed work to the students, and only three of them did it, so I decided to punish the class by giving them lines.” According to him, “Everyone did the lines except this one student who has become very disrespectful.”
Mr. Hazelwood defended his approach, expressing his dissatisfaction with student behavior. “There are times the college has to drop the pass mark to 30% to accommodate students,” he said, adding that the current pass mark at the college is 40%.
The incident has sparked widespread debate about discipline methods and classroom management at the tertiary level. ANN will continue to follow this story as more details emerge.