Former Minister of Education and Youth, Fayval Williams, announced on Wednesday that teams from the Ministry of Education will visit schools to inspect the goalposts and ensure compliance with standards for their use.

It follows Tuesday afternoon’s freak accident that claimed the life of Campion College eighth-grader Rashad Richards when a soccer goalpost fell on him on the school’s campus.

The Jamaica Observer he was told that just after 3pm, the boy, who was a member of the school’s rugby team, was playing on the goal post which was not properly attached to the ground when it fell on him, causing him serious injuries.

An unconfirmed report was that he was getting ready for rugby practice and was lying by the post when the accident happened.

He was rushed to a nearby medical facility, where he was pronounced dead Observer it was also said.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet press briefing, Williams expressed his heartfelt condolences to Rashad’s family and friends, stressing that schools must remain safe places. She added that the ministry will continue to ensure that safety is taught in physical education classes.

“I understand yesterday that there was quite a bit of rain, that the ground got wet – we don’t know – we need to investigate exactly what happened. But we want to assure Jamaicans that we are doing checks in our schools because we know the danger that poles in our schools have had experience of deaths in the past,” she said.

Williams noted that a set of standards have been promulgated for equipment used in sports offered in schools, including goalposts, and these standards are in the Jamaican Standard Specifications for the Safety and Performance of Soccer Goalposts.

She said the standards were created by the Ministry of Education and Youth in partnership with the Jamaica Bureau of Standards several years ago and that these standards include how the empty seats should be used and even how they should be secured when they are and are not in use. “We will remind schools of these standards,” she said.

Meanwhile, Williams said the ministry’s guidance and counseling teams along with guidance counselors from other schools visited Champion College on Wednesday to begin providing support to students and teachers.

This is the third such incident in the last 13 years. In March 2011, nine-year-old student Jerimiah Yson Jr died after a goalpost on the school’s playing field fell on him. The tragedy led to Sts Peter and Paul Prep, a feeder school at Campion College, to implement a number of safety measures, including the use of aluminum goalposts.

Three months earlier, a similar tragedy took the life of seven-year-old Nicholas Hamilton at Coke View Primary School in Westmoreland.

—Alecia Smith