An investigation into a Valentine's Day incident between two students at Kingston College (KC) has found that the boys were simply involved in a playful tussle, which unfortunately escalated into something more serious.

Dr Charlene Ashley, director of communications at the Ministry of Education, told The Gleaner yesterday that based on reports received from several parties involved in the incident, there was no apparent intent to bring harm to the student.

She said that from all indications, there was no intentional attack or any malicious attempt to steal the boy's cellphone.

"It was child's play," said Ashley. "That's why we have always encouraged students to be careful in how they conduct themselves.

"It is extremely important for students to use self-control at all times, as things can get out of hand, as we see in this case where something simple between two classmates almost turned into something quite serious," she added.

Ashley said the ministry has put in place several intervention programmes to better help students to deal with grouses and encouraged students to make use of such initiatives.

Safe cellphone usage

She also urged students to be careful in how they use their cellphones during school and said the ministry would be approaching mobile phone distributors in the future in a bid to hopefully establish a campaign on safe cellphone usage in schools.

The Gleaner reported last week that a grade 10 student at the North Street school was home nursing wounds after he was allegedly beaten unconscious with a steel pipe on the school compound by one of his schoolmates.

The boy's father told The Gleaner that the matter was in court as his son was unable to attend classes for at least a week because of injuries he sustained.

According to the parent, the boy received six stitches to his jaw after he hit his head against a rock after being knocked down with a steel pipe.