School security guards were yesterday put through their paces in self-defence and risk management in a move to help prevent acts of violence in Bermuda's classrooms.

Ten security officers from CedarBridge Academy and Berkeley Institute completed two days of instruction at Bermuda Police, which aimed to equip them with physical tactic skills, as well as enhance their people management abilities.

The Ministry of Education ordered the officers undergo special training after security guard Kariim Wales almost lost his life in March this year when he was repeatedly stabbed by an alleged trespasser on the premises of CedarBridge Academy.

Yesterday, Mr. Wales was among the men and women honing their self defence skills in preparation for the start of the new school term next month.

He returned to work for the first time just three weeks ago and said he was more than ready for the return of pupils on September 9.

But he said he was grateful to have been given training, and felt more confident for it.

"I think the training we have been give has been fantastic. It's helped us all tremendously," said Mr. Wales.

"It's helped us to develop self defence tactics, but has also lifted our self-esteem. But I think one of the best parts of the course has been improving our communication skills and helping us to read people better.

"Talking is only seven percent of communication, body language is the rest. I think the training will help us all to be better prepared and to better weigh up the risks."

Mr. Wales, from Warwick, said if the knife incident had happened after the training, he would probably not have been so seriously injured.

He said he certainly would not have followed the attacker alone into the darkened theatre, where the attack took place.

He added: "If I had had this training last year, I probably wouldn't have gone in there by myself. I would have waited for help to arrive first.

"I'm sure I would still have been hurt, but probably not to drastically.

"But I'm feeling great now, and am more than ready for the start of term. I feel 100 percent again."

Chief Education Officer for the Ministry of Education Dr. Joseph Christopher was there to watch the training in progress yesterday and said he had been very impressed by the professionalism of the officers.

"The incident at CedarBridge was the precipitating event that led to the training taking place," said Dr. Christopher.

"Security staff were aware that they needed some training, essentially in people management, and that issue had been raised, although it had not been dealt with immediately. It was not a priority.

"However, the incident involving Mr. Wales precipitated action. We are a responsive ministry and we wanted training to be organised as a priority. We felt it very important."

But Dr. Christopher said, while the training would better equip the officers in self-defence techniques, the main objective was to prevent any violent outbreaks.

He added: "The focus of this training is to enable security staff to de-escalate incidents as quickly as possible, using communication and people skills. That's the best way to handle any situation, but, if they do not manage to do that, they are trained to manage the conflict."

PC Jeff Baron, who is a public order instructor for Bermuda Police, said the training sessions used for the security officers had been modified from the Service's own programme, which is taken from the Metropolitan Police in London.

He said: "They have done very well. They are very keen on learning and I think it is great that they have been offered this opportunity.

"They are confrontational officers, so the potential for danger is always there, but hopefully this will better prepare them should incidents arise."