by MARIA BRADSHAW

CHIEF EDUCATION OFFICER Wendy Griffith-Watson is supporting a deputy principal in his call for a ban on "stink bombs" and other pranksters' devices.

A concerned Dr Jonathan Lewis, deputy principal at St Leonard's Boys' School, reported that students were disrupting classes by releasing the "bombs" which have a strong, unpleasant odour.

Sometimes classrooms have to be evacuated for as long as 20 minutes.

Griffith-Watson said when she heard about stink bombs she thought there were items that students made at home.

"I cannot believe that they can actually purchase these things. It is irresponsible of persons to sell these items. My main question is what is the use of a stink bomb? What is its value?

Stopping classes

"And children are using these to stop classes at a time when an anti-learning culture is developing in Barbados. Why should adults support this when for many of our people, education is the only means of mobility. I support the call for a ban and I am calling for it to be banned from importation," the chief education officer said.

Griffith-Watson said she would be writing the suppliers and retailers of these "dangerous" items as soon as she had investigated the issue.

President of the Barbados Teachers' Union, Karen Best, is also supporting Lewis.

She said: "I know they are being sold by vendors at schools and at fairs. I had a case at my school where a vendor was selling them and I told her not here. They are potentially very dangerous. They do not add any value; all they do is cause a lot of confusion and disruption."

Best added: "I would call on the authorities to institute a ban on those stink bombs."

Meanwhile, the parent of a secondary school student said her child, who is an asthmatic, had to be rushed to the hospital after another student exploded a stink bomb.