safety of teachers now at risk, an education official claimed yesterday.

Kids were coming to school armed with scissors and knives, he said. And they were assaulting -- sometimes cutting teachers and fellow pupils with them.

Fights were also breaking out on school grounds involving all kinds of weapons from shop tools to bottles.

The violent acts had been steadily increasing over the years and were now occurring in schools "on a regular basis'', although not everyday, Bermuda Union of Teachers head Sen. Milton Scott claimed in the Senate yesterday.

Some teachers had had enough and were choosing to leave their profession, he said.

"It's been such a gradual increase that (teachers) have woke up suddenly and said `why am I tolerating such behaviour? It wasn't around when I was in school','' he said.

Education Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira said he was aware of the growing violence, which, going by reports made to his Ministry, was happening "periodically''.

A discipline report commissioned by the Education Ministry last year was due on his desk by the end of the month, he said. And it would include an overview of aggression and violence in schools. The increased student violence reflected the growing number of violent incidents in the community, he added.

"A number of students and teachers are being intimidated,'' Sen. Scott told the Senate. "And threats are being made against teachers' personal safety.'' Sen. Scott made the claims to show the urgency for a system to be set up within schools to deal with violent students.

Fed-up teachers and angry parents were on the verge of turning to the courts for redress, he said afterwards.

"If they were stuck with a knife on the street it would be assault and dealt with in the courts,'' he said.

"Teachers are well within their rights to use the legal system for redress,'' he pointed out. "There have been physical injuries to teachers with objects, they have been threatened or they have had their cars vandalised.'' Sen. Scott conceded the violent incidents were happening more frequently in certain schools.

"I will say it occurs more in the general secondary schools than the academic schools,'' he said.

Sen. Scott said he was looking to Government's education reform plans to tackle the problem.

It was his understanding that units would be set up in the middle schools and the two senior secondary schools to properly deal with students with severe behavioural problems.

"We need an education programme to cater to the broader section of needs and provide meaningful education and after school activities,'' he said.

Sen. Scott said there may also be a need for a residential school because, "There are some kids whose needs can't be met in a general school environment.'' It was mostly boys committing the violent acts, but girls were also involved.

Each school dealt with the perpetrators differently, either by suspension or expulsion, depending on what was done, he said.

And their behaviour was usually brought on by a number of other personal problems.

Teachers were being driven away from the profession, he said, although he did not know of any teacher who had quit his or her job over a particular violent incident.

"Some say `I've had enough!' They don't pay me enough to be in a career like this','' he said.

Police had often been called to schools to deal with the violent incidents, he noted.

Dr. Terceira assured the education reform plans would address behavioural problems.