EDUCATION Minister Hazel Manning is being held directly responsible for the alleged sexual abuse of a 14-year-old female student of a secondary school in central Trinidad.

A teacher at the secondary school broke ranks this week to point fingers at the Education Minister, because the attractive East Indian teenager is suspected of being involved in a relationship with a “sicko” safety officer employed at the school and he reasoned, it was Manning’s zany idea to introduce safety officers into secondary schools.

“This was just a crazy idea in the first place to bring safety officers into the schools without any sort of training or preparation,” the insider stated.

“But this was her (Manning’s) baby.

“None of these officers are trained as safety officers, as far as I know; a large part of the workers who were hired as safety officers came from the Police Service and the Army.

“Interestingly, there are more accidents at primary school but those schools don’t have safety officers, while secondary schools have two safety officers.

“By hiring these former police officers and soldiers as safety officers, they are being used more for disciplining the students and other issues that they were not hired for and that can sometimes conflict with the responsibility of teachers and guidance officers.

“You just can’t pick up anyone and put them to work with these young impressionable teenaged girls and Minister Manning should have known better.”

According to the school source, the safety officer is single, in his late 30s, and has been employed at the school for the past three years.

“These safety officers have been hired on contract and their responsibility is to ensure the compound is safe for the students,” the insider noted.

“But at our school, this safety officer is fraternising with the girls a little too much.

“He admits to having a fetish for succulent East Indian girls and because of his blatant, lecherous behaviour, the school principal has had to relocate the safety office within the confines of the general administration building.

“Workers at the school observed that the safety officer was a bit too helpful with some of the young female students and the girls would oftentimes be seen visiting his office when it was located in another wing, away from the general administration offices.

“After workers complained about the safety officer, the principal decided to move the safety office to safer quarters.”

The outraged teacher described the safety officer as a sicko who has a serious mental problem.

According to the teacher, the safety officer tells the most outlandish stories: he is being trained by the FBI; Interpol is investigating him; he was a hostage negotiator that helped resolve the coup of 1990; he was the security consultant for the 2006 World Cup in Germany; he is fluent in 12 languages; he is a personal friend of Fidel Castro and George W. Bush; and, would you believe, he is the real author of the Harry Potter series of books.

Additionally, the safety officer has bragged to teachers and students of his sexual prowess, his size and his ethnicity -- he openly claims that once an East Indian woman “sleeps” with him, she will never sleep with an East Indian man again.

“He (the safety officer) has made several propositions to female students and according to the students, he is having a sexual relationship with two girls at the school, one of them a 14-year-old Form Three student,” the teacher declared.

“This is real advantage.

“Most of the girls in the school are slow learners and from disadvantaged homes in many instances.

“What was the (Education) Minister thinking off by placing two male safety officers in such an environment?”

“There are more accidents in primary schools but the Ministry hasn’t placed any safety officers in primary schools.”

Reports have been made about the unusual behaviour of safety officer to Captain Celestine, head of the Safety Department, Student Support Services, the Guidance Unit, the PTA and the School Supervisor for the Caroni district.

“The Education Minister recently announced that sexual education will soon be introduced into the school system, but some already have the jump on the Education Minister,” the teacher stated.

“There is a sicko on staff and nothing is being done about it.

“The principal doesn’t seem too concerned and we haven’t heard anything from the Safety Department.

“Amazingly, this matter has not been brought to the attention of the police, because the girl is a minor.

“The safety officers are going to get a bad name because I understand another one of these safety officers was caught having an incestuous relationship with his step-daughter.

“We need to get the bad eggs out of the system and introduce people who are trained to function around young people.”