Ministry to inspect goalposts at schools

FORMER Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams announced on Wednesday that teams from the Ministry of Education will visit schools to inspect goalposts and ensure standards for their use are adhered to.

This follows Tuesday afternoon’s bizarre accident which claimed the life of Campion College year eight student Rashad Richards when a football goal post fell on him in the school’s grounds.

The Jamaican observer was told that just after 3pm the boy, who was a member of the school’s rugby team, was playing on the goal post which was not securely secured to the ground when it fell on him causing serious injuries.

One unconfirmed report was that he was getting ready for rugby training and stretching at the post when the accident happened.

He was rushed to a nearby medical facility where he was pronounced dead Observer was also told.

At a post-Cabinet press conference, Williams expressed his heartfelt condolences to Rashad’s family and friends, emphasizing that schools must remain safe places. She added that the ministry will continue to ensure that safety is taught in physical education courses.

“I understand yesterday that quite a bit of rain fell and the ground may have softened – we don’t know – we need to investigate exactly what happened. “But we want to assure Jamaicans that we are conducting audits at our schools because we know there is a danger that goalposts at our schools have been associated with deaths in the past,” she said.

Williams noted that a series of standards have been issued for the equipment used in the sports offered in schools, including goal posts, and these standards are in the Jamaican Standard Specifications for the Safety and Performance of Football Goal Posts.

She said the standards were drawn up several years ago by the Ministry of Education and Youth in collaboration with the Bureau of Standards Jamaica and that these standards include how goal posts should be used and even how they should be secured when in and when not in use . “We will remind schools of these standards,” she said.

In the meantime, Williams said the ministry’s guidance and counseling teams, along with guidance counselors from other schools, visited Campion College on Wednesday to provide support to students and teachers.

This is the third incident in the past thirteen years. In March 2011, nine-year-old Sts Peter and Paul Preparatory School student Jerimiah Yson Jr died. after a goalpost fell on him on the school’s playing field. The tragedy resulted in Sts Peter and Paul Prep, a feeder school for Campion College, implementing a number of safety measures including the use of aluminum goalposts.

Three months earlier, a similar tragedy claimed the life of seven-year-old Nicholas Hamilton at Coke View Primary School in Westmoreland.

– Alecia Smith