Minister of Education Dr Tim Gopeesingh said yesterday his ministry will start monitoring private schools more closely.

On Thursday, principal of Blackman's Private School, 67-year-old Arlene Blackman, was released on $150,000 bail after being charged with assaulting two pupils, aged nine and ten, by flushing their heads in a toilet bowl.

The offences are alleged to have taken place last Tuesday on the school's compound at Saddle Road, Maraval.

Commenting on the incident, Gopeesingh said: "I am certainly very unhappy," about the alleged attack at a private school. "It is now in the hands of the police, and the Ministry of Education will obviously have to await the outcome of that matter."

On Friday, Gopeesingh said he instructed his Ministry staff to start creating a register of the over 100 private primary and secondary schools across the country.

Teachers at these schools will also have to be registered. Gopeesingh said this incident underscored the need for greater involvement in the affairs of private schools.

"So we are going to be monitoring the private schools a lot more closely than we have done in the past That's on the Education Act, but I came and met the Ministry with massive deficiencies and this is one of the areas the Minister has to move swiftly to correct with immediate effect.

Last week the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) told a Joint Select Committee of Parliament there was no system of psychometric evaluation for teachers entering the service.

While there is the need for further discussion on the matter, Gopeesingh believed there should be more evaluation of teachers.