Teachers from the Fort Wellington Secondary School, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) took to the street in protests today, following an incident whereby a teacher was reportedly assaulted.
This publication understands that a teacher at the institution, Marlon Daniels, had sent a student to the headteacher’s office for disrespectful behaviour.
However, the student would have left the school, after hurling threatening language towards the educators.
Sometime later, while Daniels was at a nearby printery, the student reportedly returned with a relative. Together with other students, they physically assaulted the teacher.
According to information reaching this publication, the relative restrained the teacher while the students beat him with a stick.
During the protest action, the teachers called for violence against them to end and for more stringent measures to be put in place for their protection.
In a statement on its Facebook page in relation to the matter, the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) said “the school environment is becoming unmanageable with students, parents, and guardians taking matters in their own hands based on school incidents. I call on the Guyana Police Force and Ministry of Education to take stern actions against these perpetrators. It is time we take back our schools.”
The issue of violence in schools, particularly acts of aggression against teachers, has been on the forefront lately.
For the year so far, cases of violence against teachers were reported at the St Angela’s Primary and Graham’s Primary schools in Georgetown.
The Education Ministry had condemned such acts, labelling them as reprehensible and ghastly.
In fact, the Ministry had made it clear that it will prohibit violent parents or guardians from having access to the school premises, and will transfer any learner out of a school whose parents commit acts of violence on teachers.
“When parents or guardians are engaged in violent acts against teachers, it goes against established values, norms, and expectations. We cannot beat teachers and then ask them to teach our children peaceful conflict resolution,” the Ministry had explained in a statement in January.
Moreover, last year, it was reported that the Ministry embarked on a holistic approach to tackle violence in schools. The approach, Education Minister Priya Manickchand had explained, will include the Guyana Police Force, including the Community Policing Group, as well as religious leaders in the respective communities.
“I want students particularly to understand something, while you have a right to education, other people have a right to enjoy their space without fear, and that right will trump any right you believe you have to be disruptive, and I want to say that very clearly,” the Education Minister had noted during an interview in June 2022.
