[www.inewsguyana.com] – The suicide of a Fifth Form student at the West Coast Demerara “Swami” school has sent shockwaves among students and teachers.
Dead is 16 – year – old Alex Persaud of Lot 18 Stewartville, West Coast Demerara, who consumed a poisonous substance on October 06 and succumbed on October 10 at the Woodlands Hospital.
Persaud was reportedly involved in a ‘friendship’ with a young teacher at the school over which he was reportedly expelled and the teacher fired.
The boy had previously told his mother that the Principal and Founder of the School Swami Aksharananda “does really embarrass people.”
He committed suicide a day before his parents were due to meet with Aksharananda. Reports indicate that the teenager was humiliated by the Swami in the presence of his friends and others at the school.
The boy’s mother, Monica Sirichand, and his grandmother, could not say with certainty whether the planned meeting with the Swami was intended to discuss his friendship with the teacher.
“We don’t know if Alex was upset with anything or what,” Sheila Persaud, the grandmother told iNews.
The woman said the boy bought gramoxone from a nearby shop and ingested it at home.
The boy had reportedly told his parents that he was sent home by the Principal but did not say why.
His father alone showed up for a meeting, but the Principal asked him to return with his wife to discuss the matter. That meeting should have taken place two Tuesdays ago, but the meeting never happened since Persaud ingested the poisonous substance the day before.
While at the hospital, the boy is reported to have told his mother he did not want to go back to the school.
Students at the school are upset with the way the matter is being handled, especially so at a school which has trumpeted its commitment to addressing mental health and suicides in Guyana. Just recently, teachers and students say they had to set up a booth at GuyExpo to raise awareness about suicides in Guyana.
The students and teachers say they are allowed to talk about the incident for fear of being expelled or dismissed. The family is expected to transfer their daughter out of the same school following the incident.
![The boy's grandmother, Sheila Persaud (left) and is mother, Monica Sirichand. [iNews' Photo]](https://i0.wp.com/www.inewsguyana.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Family.jpg)
“(The) laugh is GuyExpo the school had big suicide boot(h) forcing we and the teachers to take part and week after we friend dead,” said one student.
Students said that they were initially not being allowed to attend the funeral, but when they started to cry, they were eventually given permission.
Students were also taken aback that a minute of silence was not observed in memory of their friend when the school held its annual graduation exercise on Sunday, October 12.
When contacted, Swami Aksharananda, through his Secretary, who responded via email confirmed that the young man was indeed expelled from the school but that the teacher in question was not asked to resign.
“She never returned,” the email stated. The Swami also denied publicly humiliating the now dead teenager.
Dear Paul & Naz, I want to complement both of you on the more sober tone in your respective last comments. I believe in constructive and respectful discussions. We know we will all have our own different opinions, that is ok; but what is important is respect. That being said, i hope we can continue like this in the future with all our dealings with others, not just here.
I noted your respective comments and a statement from Swami, the school and/or the ministry would be good. However, I want to state that what goes for one must go for all. We should equally voice our opinions when the same happens in other places or specifically in other schools. This is not being defensive, but rather it is being fair. You see matter like these we have to be careful. We don’t want to be sending the wrong messages. With this same breath, may I ask what are your suggestions on how schools/teachers should deal with delinquent student. I will tell you this beforehand, whatever suggestion you make, do you think it will be easy to implement? Trust me it will be struggle and that is why the support and help of everyone is needed: parents, students, teachers, ministry, government, opposition, society; just about everyone will need to help, even me, Paul and Naz. We have to do our bits.
when I spoke with this News media they did mentioned to me that they may do a follow up report. I don’t know what is the status of it. Again I will call for fairness. Do you remember the story of the kids from St. Roses? How come no one is calling for anyone to be charged? Apparently, the video was made at a home, why isn’t anyone calling for the parents of that home to be charged or something? I am just saying something. These are unfortunate incidents that we wish never happen. We just have to handle it with care. I don’t want to sound defensive or be accused of it and I hope you can see the merit in the point.
@Paul, please allow me to quote you: “I know kids that go to that school and there a lot stuff happening there that need to be investigated” Can you say what you are talking about here? Don’t let us insinuate things. I am not naive and say you know what, the school is perfect. No school is perfect, there will be problems. I just want us to be careful and just don’t paint a bad picture of the school for the sake of it. This is not a terrorist school or anything of such and vague comments like what I quoted there can incite hatred just like what this article did. I don’t blame anyone of you or even the reporter or editor who did this article. We all make mistakes as one of you said and no one of us is perfect. This News media is doing a great job in keeping us up to date with the news and I want to commend them for that, however in the same breath I would like to see them and all of us myself included to be responsible.
@Naz, I am not in any position to say what support was given to the family of Alex by the school. Perhaps, Inews can tell us that if they did a follow up, or individually, the school is there and any concern person I would think is free to visit the school and find out from Swami or the Administration there; rather than to speculate.
I just want to close here by thanking everyone for a constructive discussion.
Well said Naz! I am force to reply to some of the comments stated above, let deal with facts here and forget about moral up bring, and which school you went to and which religion is good or bad. and how many papers we have to read to comprehend the truth, in the eyes of the court all of this is irrelevant. What we have here is an innocent child die and a poor parent looking and awaiting for justice. So far there is no officials words from the Swami/School, no statement from the Education Ministry and no investigation from the police !
For those of you who are living in North America! you know the answers to these questions – the teacher would be charge ( in fact she may not have met the criteria to teach in the first place),the police would have already started their investigation and the Swami would have been charge by now and above all the parents would have press charges etc.
This will not happen here…I am not accusing the school nor their teaching..I know kids that go to that school and there a lot stuff happening there that need to be investigated. I have know of one parent that sue the Swami for slapping her child..
Young Alex was just in love..it is a human things that most of us is lucky to experience ..some of us never did..so we may not understand. Both were teenagers and it is quite normal ..we all have kids and it will happening anytime..we cannot prepare for this..in fact if my kids approach me and said daddy I am in Love. I will be the happiest father..
What went wrong thought ,is although the father with to see the Swami ..and promise to see him on Tuesday with his wife. The Swami fired Alex and embarrassed him in front of the class and among other teachers after the father left the meeting..Alex said that on his dying bed ..his friends mention that too and the whole school apparently know this. Why!!! the Swami did that knowing that he would have met the both parents on the Tuesday..
Alex made a bad choices ,as human we all make bad choices ,only if and only if he was not expelled from school.. the meeting would have taken place. Maybe the parent would have send him to another school.
I have no intention of blaming no religion and the school, if i do offend anyone ..please accept my humble apology..
What the community seek, the parent of Alex seek, Alex friends would want, his teacher would want and the whole Guyana would want is the Truth. And Justice..
So far, the School /Swami staying salient, the police and the Ministry of education did not comments on the incident as yet and that what bothers all of us..
The media is powerful tool and I hope that they press for information and bring those whose liable to serve justice and charges laid. And I do hope that the school flex their rules when it comes to human nature and dealing with teenagers or else we may end of up with many more Alex..
Hi Concerned Parent, Being a parent myself, my one and only concerned is, is the way this young man passed on. And my GOD, what support was given from his mentor, and the school he once attended? Personally, I know many people that attended this school, and so far, lots of negative feedback. Reading this article is what prompt these responses. I can honestly assure you, on my end, negative response to religion is no where in, or close to my thoughts. My dad is Muslim, my mom is Hindu, we were raised with the knowledge of knowing there is one GOD, but each and everyone of us, worship that higher almighty within our own passionate desires, and that is what makes us unique. Trust me, I do understand, certain comments were totally uncalled for, but on the other hand, with all honesty, we cannot stop people in this world(evil) from judging us, its human nature. But we can try our best, to let, and let be. Even though there is so much negativity in this world, and to some extent, in each, and every one of us, we can all put our differences aside, and respect each other. We are our children role model, and they are the future. The ways my parents were raised, they broke that cycle, and we were raised with a voice. All children should be treated with respect. Our mentors wants us to respect them, But do some of them do it in return? Again, no one heard a word from this Swami. If the world is against you, and you are a public figure, wouldn’t you want to come out and show some respect that is owe to your community, start with the grieving family, friends of this boy. A compassionate caring person would have done so when support is needed at such a painful tragic loss.
Best of Regards.
Well said concerned Parent.
well said.
Agree with u.
You know Naz, you are right I was defensive. The question is why was I defensive? First of all, this article does not reflect the full truth. It does not cover a response or statement from the School and specifically Swami. I spoke someone from this news media about it and they informed that they did try to solicit a comment from Swami, but he declined. They even told me that they attend the last graduation for that very reason. Ok, point taken. However, we need to understand that the media is a very powerful tool. More often than not, it influences the mind of its readers. All you got to do is put it out there. For one who is unsuspecting, would fall victim to it. I give you an example. If one should read lets say Kaieteur News, you will find generally the news is anti-government; conversely if you read Guyana Times you will generally find news that are pro-government. So what do you do? Sometimes as readers in order to decipher or to understand a situation or issue, you have to read both sides, meaning Kaieteur News, Guyana Times, Inewsgy, Newssourcegy etc, just to get the truth, and sometimes still you don’t get it. I don’t know about you but that is what I do. Second reason why I was defensive is because if you read some of the comments, I am not saying yours but some of them, you will see the criticism and remarks were uncalled for. Many of it were vulgar. I am not no saint, rather I am an ordinary person just like many of us here. It is ok to criticize but be constructive. Hence that is why you probably saw a defensive tone from me. If you look back you can see not only Swami was being criticize, but the very tenets and principles of Hinduism was being attacked, certainly subtly. Read between the lines and you will see. You can criticize me personally all you want, that is ok, I will take it. Hinduism teaches me humility, so I accept that. What I would not accept though is Hinduism/Sanatan Dharma being attacked. And if you noticed my comments were in defence of that. I wasn’t trying to be more intelligent than anyone here, rather I was just debating with you guys. You guys made your point and I made mine, and I would even stand up in a court of law about it.
Now, let me set record straight with regards to Alex. MY heart goes out to him, My heart also goes out to his parents, family, friends and loves one. I know what it feels like to lose someone. To lose a young life so tragically it even more heart wrenching. You would not believe me, but trust me Alex is in my prayers. I do what I have to do for him and the best thing I can do for him is prayers. Simply lamenting would not do anything for him, but prayers will help him. Sometimes you don’t have to state certain things. Sometimes people talk about love etc, but their actions are different. You know as they say action speaks louder than words. I am sure you can understand what I am saying.
You know in Guyana and for example our police sometimes, they just shoot someone and kill the person because they see the person committed a crime, lets say a drug mule. I am just using an example ok. But in america, you will find the cops there, rather than shoot the person to kill him, they would take him in and investigate him to see who is the big fish so to speak. Do you understand the point? So similarly, rather that criticize on the just the face value of an issue, why not get deeper to it and investigate it. This is why whole point all the time. Again I was defensive because many were attacking based on this article and probably some hatred, or enviousness or whatever to not just Swami, but the School and by large Hinduism. Lets be honest. if you read back carefully and note the persons, you will see what I am saying. It is because of religion we have some of the biggest wars in the world. Jews fighting Muslim and vice versa. Hindus and Muslims fighting etc. It is because we see differences in each other. We should not view it that way. We should have love and respect for one another. Let us deal the issues, don’t just attack and be biased. Be fair. I am a parent, a father for that matter. I would feel hurt if something to happen to my child. I would feel even more hurt, if i was found negligent as a parent and wasn’t there for my kid. I am not saying this was the case here. I am speaking generally. Many fathers like myself, sometimes we leave all the burden of taking care of the children on the mothers. Most of the times we are with friends, rum shops etc. Who is there to guide the children? oh mother is there not to worry. Oh we work and send them to private school and our job finish. We are so wrong. Mothers can’t do it alone and certainly the teachers are not no miracle workers. Everyone have to take responsibility. Our kids are innocent, they might thing they big, but we as adults would know they are innocent. I can remember in my days at school my headmistress used to tell us “If because yall boys piss and see froth or you girls get bobbie mean yall is big man and big woman, think again” She used to pound this in our head. Mind you, I went to Public Secondary School. She was like a mother to us. A mother away from home. We have to teach our kids to be obedient, we have to teach them values, morals, etc. For whose benefit? Our and theirs. When they grow older they will understand and thank us. Now whether it was the best way Swami dealt with the issue was right or not……well let me put it this way. I don’t know Swami’s mind, but I can tell you if he had known that Alex would have drank poison, I am sure he would have dealt with it differently. I guess he dealt with it just as he would normally deal with an issue. I am just guessing. We need to listen to both sides and know the truth well before making judgement. We also need to see where we went wrong too, not just the obvious.
For the negative person who thinks their comment is above everyone elses, you are constantly bashing everyone comments, as if though you are such an intelligent, and positive person. Your writing is extremely compassionate less, and immature. On the other hand, your comments is constant reminder about how everyone should, or should not be. Its extremely clear you are, or want to be in the footsteps of a so call wanna be teacher. Yet, if you are so positive, why are you constantly so defensive. Please, again no one cares about, how it was, how it should be, how positive this school is, how much good this school does for people,…………of course, it goes on(your list), and on………………….. As parents, it is about an adult that abuse his privilege over a minor, and that adult happens to be a so called teacher, And, that is questionable. Its very unfortunate that such a tragic incident has to happen, a lost of a precious life. As humans, we can justify as much as we want, its good while it last, but eventually it will get caught with you.
I agree wit Paul, mike and naz….. and dat parent who tlkin so much gud abt swami u shud tink if that was ur child????? and we shud get revenge and justice…. all charges shud go on to swami!!!
Please stop this ! All of u talk like u know swami and Alex , Alex would of wanted this
To Paul and others who may not understand Vedic Culture, please allow me to respond. I quote the rules you mentioned and then I will give my response to it which is according to Vedic Culture. We just need to respect it and respect each other.
“Here are some additional so call rules of the school :
“1. Students are only allow to wear rubber slipper to school” –
First of all students are not only allowed to wear slippers to schools, they can wear regular shoes as well. However the shoes worn in the street so to speak, cannot be worn in the classroom. The reason being is that the place of learning (the classroom) is a sanctified place, just as the place of worship. It is the same as when Hindus go to the temple they take their shoes off and go in bare feet. For example it is not proper cleaniness to wear your shoes to go to the washroom where sometimes urine is there and then go to a place of worship or learning.
“2.Students are not allow to have any contact with any social network -(yet majority of the students has fake face book and email address)” –
This is not true about e-mail address, however with the social network eg, facebook, in quoting Swami’s words ” Facebook can be a powerful tool for learning, if used properly and supervised.” We all know that when our kids use facebook is not for anything really constructive, but rather for some gossiping, selfies for people to comment on etc. Most of the pictures you see also leave a lot to be desired. If you look at this objectively you will see the merit of this rule.
“3.You are not allow to eat any kind of meat”
This is Vedic school and vegetarianism is one of the principles of vedic culture. Why do you think Hindus stay away from meat when they do Jhandis, or when they are fasting? As I mentioned above the place of learning is a sanctified place. If you didn’t noticed a temple is also in the compound of the school.
“4.You are not allow to do any from of exercises except Yoga”
I am not so sure whether you cannot do any other exercise, but what is wrong with yoga? So many persons are turning to yoga exercises around the world for health benefits among other reasons. Yoga is a vedic exercise and it is used for many reasons, health, tranquility, peace of mind, etc.
“5. Boys cannot talk to girls ,even you have a cousin of the opposite sex attending school there ,you cant speak to him or her”
Should I answer this? I am sure you are intelligent enough to figure it out.
“6. and the list continues….”
Generally for the other rules, you will need perhaps a little more than just basic knowledge to understand. For a little knowledge is dangerous.
I hope I was able to clear up or at least go a far way in clearing up your misunderstandings. I beg of you all one thing, please do not hate because this is Vedic School. Be constructive in your criticism. This is all I am asking for. Thank you.
Why are people behaving like Swami give Alex the poison to drink. TOO MUCH ILLITERACY !!!
First of all it is very sad that Alex ended his life in such a manner, I read all of the above sentiments and it is unbelievable how some of the views are insane. Lets be practical his parents were paying for his studies he should have shown some respect and loyalty to himself and parents. Again why Swami has to take the Blame for STUPIDITY. We as parents should take some responsibility with our children, why every time the Teachers, Nurses, Doctors and even the Government gets the Blame for Parents shortcoming. Come on People show some intelligence was his parents sending him to school to be a teenager Father or to have a proper Education,? If Swami didn’t take action then what the School and Swami gets the BLAME. Keep up the Good work Swamiji but the people need to hear your side of the Story as well.
Well said, Mike, Well Said Paul, I strongly agree with both of you.. This and other incidents has been way past due to investigate in this school. We do need the media, and authority figures to investigate this matter urgently. Justice needs to be serve.
CI Man I fully agree with you
After reading the article and the comments ..I am totally agreed with Mike P. there are more question than answer.
In addition to the ten questions listed:
13. The Ministry of Education need to investigate the matter urgently
14. The police should be call in to the matter
15. Alex parents should proceed with charges to the Swami/school and the teacher involved–
For my two cents; the school has some stupid rules as if we are not living in a 21st century . Where on earth you do not expect teenagers to fall in love (Is this a Sin), Here are some additional so call rules of the school :
1. Students are only allow to wear rubber slipper to school
2.Students are not allow to have any contact with any social network -(yet majority of the students has fake face book and email address)
3.You are not allow to eat any kind of meat
4.You are not allow to do any from of exercises except Yoga
5. Boys cannot talk to girls ,even you have a cousin of the opposite sex attending school there ,you cant speak to him or her
6. and the list continues….
Should there be certain guidelines set out by the Ministry of Education regarding rules that are carry out in private school?
We seek answers from the relevant authority in this matter. And hope that better system and tools are put in place at this school in order to prevent many more Alex from happening..
Why is the Swami so silent!!! we can all read between the lines here, we all know what his answers would be and he knows that his pass and current students will deem him a liar .
Now that poor Alex parent may never get justice. If his was a minster son/daughter or a rich man kids ..we would have get a statement from the Minister of Education already, police would have already call in the matter and lawsuits would have fire from left to right. I hope that the media follow up with this unfortunate incident and hold those who are responsible accountable..
For all those parent that have kids, just think for one second what you would have done in this instances..
Justice is needed now!
I made my point and enough said. The rest you have to figure it out. When everyone calms down then we can think properly and constructively. It is a shame how none of you comment anything about the St. Roses incident or the Richard Ismael stabbing. I guess monkey knows which limb to jump on. This news media didn’t even cover the Richard Ismael incident, Kaieteur News barely gave it attention, but hmmm, this one really aches some you here. Could it be envy? Could it be jealousy? Could it be something even deeper? You have to go within yourself and examine what is it. May God help us all. You guys don’t get me wrong, I feel for Alex. I feel for his parents. I even feel for all of you who are angry and hurt. The whole incident is unfortunate. The point I was trying to make all the time is that we should be constructive, don’t let us judge things on the face or cover of it. We should go deeper and investigate the real truth before making judgement. You know something, many of you don’t know this, but SVN have a student population of over 600 students. Those numbers speak for itself. Do you think if there was something genuinely wrong at the school, so many parents would send their children there? Do you know that there is a nearby orphanage that SVN gives complete scholarship to the children once they reach secondary school age? Have you checked the school’s results at the CSEC exams? It is one of the top schools. There is a boy who is an orphan that graduated from SVN with good grades and he is given a full scholarship to UG to study engineering. Trust me there are many more to speak about, I just give a few hints here. If you really hell bent on judging, then judge on these facts too. Jesus Christ was criticized too. He was criticized so much that they hung him on a cross and freed a criminal Barabas. Krsna himself was criticized as well. So many great personalities were criticized. The question is, what good did the critics gain? Judge not, for you will be judged too. It is because of hate and anger that is why we have so many wars in this world. The children these days are out of control, thanks so much to we becoming more civilized, advanced and developed. Back in my days, our teachers used to scold us and put us to kneel infront of the classroom and all of our friends. We were benched on stage. We dare not said anything. The result we came out as good adults and good citizens of Guyana. Don’t spare the rod and spoil the child. The question is asked many times, who really is in control? The child or the parent? Sometimes parents are afraid to talk to their children, sometimes teachers are afraid to do same. What is the result of all of this? Increased teenage pregnancies, violent crimes by kids, porns, drug abuse, complete breakdown in morals, etc. Who are to be blamed? We got to blame we adults. Irresponsible adults. This is my final comment on this matter. If some of you still don’t get it, then what can i do? God bless us all.
Here is my 3 cents on the matter;
1. There has to be an investigation on all aspects of the case.
2. Could this matter have been handled differently? When Swami knew of the so call affair did he call Alex into his office privately and spoke to him? Did he do the same with the teacher?
3. If he did not, why not?
4. If he did then what happened?
5. The parents were invited to meet Swami when? After he spoke to Alex? What was the meeting going to be about? No one knows.
6. So Swami has to make a satstement and answer questions.
7. There was an assembly so why no prayers for Alex?
8. Did the school help for the funeral, did Swami attend?
9. The Ministry of Education has to come out ans say something.
10. Swami is doing a good job but if this incident could have been handled differently it should have been. He does not want this matter to be on his consceince so he should make a sytstement.
that is called child abuse swami tink he born holy like he na no is a man n and a woman mek he . he ga get jail he gat a set of rules at da school deh like he is d president n let he dnt critise d other schools coz he school na far frm d government school bt le he no government scool na forced ppl fa go commite suicide.
it’s a disfunctional world we’re living in and there are no Christian values and moral ethics being taught to our children in their upbringing and as such they have developed attitudes and behaviours which is deemed acceptable by all as a norm. This really hurts and angers me because I have two(2) daughters, one approaching that very age. May God take over and be with that child, mind, body, soul and spirit.
Parents, no one is trying to compare different religions, schools, and how strict it should be. As individual we have our own beliefs. As human, we need to show respect, and give respect to each other in order to be successful in life. Again, age should not play a factor in this matter, or how strict our school should be. Bottom line is, some people kept on mentioning why did Alex parent not give him the support. Is’nt it a little too late to ask that question, or even mention that. My question is, if Alex is, or was steering in the wrong direction, his mentor, which was suppose to be his so call teacher, should have steer him in the right direction in a supportive manner, not dig his grave for him. People we are talking about a teenager here, they will constantly make mistakes, and its our duty to correct and steer them in the right direction. As humans, making mistakes is a part of our nature, and its our learning experiences, that strengthen us. We as kids, what we went through, should not be a comparison to this tragic situation. In the US, this so call teacher, would be place in place which he fully deserve to be, but I can assure you, not with children.
I have known swami since I was a small boy. I have known him to be a disciplinarian and a human being. How can anyone in their right mind think for one iota of time to blame the swami for Alex’s suicide? Did the swami buy the poison for Alex and encoutaged or forced him to consume it? Should the swami condone Alex and the female teacher’s reprehensible conduct? Why wasn’t the parents more interested in knowing the reason for their son’s expulsion? I fully support the swami’s action in this matter. Keep up your good works and lend not an ear to your detractors..
Only today in the Kaieteur Newspaper you can read how one student from Richard Ismael Secondary School stabbed another student. Now who to blame for that? Should we blame the school’s Head Teacher? Should we blame the children? Should we blame the parents? Should we blame society? I wasn’t saying that Swami was right, if he did embarrassed Alex publicly. I am not saying that is right. The whole incident was unfortunate, but as parents we need to be more involved in the lives of our kids. Swami is just a teacher, I am sure if Alex had the full support of his parents Alex would not have done that. Rather the parents and Alex would have been able to meet with Swami and sort it out. You need to read between the lines people. I am not a Swami supporter in this matter so to speak but rather the point I am trying to make is for others to take responsibility as well. We also need to be responsible in the comments we make, some of which leaves a lot to be desired. We should also find out the truth of the matter and don’t let us based our comments on this article alone. For that matter I spoke to my child last evening about the issue and she thinks people are being unfair to Swami. Now this is a child also attending the school just like many of you here who are past students. If someones wants to break the law of this country, then the law will act against him/her. On the other hand, if one abides with the laws then there are no problems. It is the same at the school, abides with the rules and there are no problems. This is a Hindu based school and someone with Vedic intelligence will find that the rules are in accordance with Vedic culture. It is simple if you can’t abide with the rules, then do not send your child there, it will be a misfit. Rather send your child to somewhere you are comfortable with. If you to look at a Christian school, you will see they have rules according to Christian beliefs and likewise for a Muslim school. We just have to respect all. I choose to send my child there because I am a Hindu and also I do not have the full confidence in the public schools with regards to discipline and moral values. I feel vindicated when i read what happen at Richard Ishmael and recently what happened at St. Roses. I could remember in my days in high school where some teachers used to bring us in front the of class or on stage during assembly and scold us on our backsides with whips, belts, etc. I am sure many of you can relate to this. They made us an example for others. When I was a high school child I didn’t necessarily agree with it or like certain teachers for that matter; but when I got older and understand life, I thank those very teachers for keeping me straight. I am not perfect, but atleast today I can stand and say I am a good citizen of Guyana and it largely due to my teachers. I hope you all can see my point. i can go on and on but sometimes we as individuals need to figure certain things out for ourselves and be rational. I hope good judgement shall prevail. Again I will close with the Biblical verse: “For those who never sin, cast the first stone”. In other words go ahead and be judge, jury and executioner if any of you are perfect. Be fair, be balanced and be honest.
Alex is mentally weak which turn him into ghost, there are thousand of him here in Guyana, too young to play big man, look around the community you live in and examine the way husband and wife, boy friend and girl friend etc live, many cant survive a 5 year marriage, and then go back and trace the relationship, you will notice they jump to quick in it.
With swami case and his school, he has the right to expelled, let say Alex get rejected one day and he create a ruckus at the school or he kill the teacher what whistle will all these commentators blow?
Finally, the structure of family and parenting is too weak, 70% of the parents today pamper their children too much so they spoil them and 80% frighten to talk to their teenagers because they fear suicide and they don’t know what to talk about or how to talk to their children and many young people are too promiscuous .
Word… why would he hire some 18 year-old? She’s 18 years old Swami! The students are as old as 16 or 17! Did you miss the talk on the birds and the bees? It’s human nature, Mr. Swami, something you clearly aren’t. Why don’t you look after your own love life?
You seem like a rational person. The next logical step is to simply remove your child from this school. This man is like two decades older than me-he’s supposed to have seen WAY more than me-yet I know about the suicide situation with kids these days. Therefore, I will treat them kindly and with respect. This man is a cold, heartless man with no direction. He is not fit for running an educational institution. I used to attend this school and I know what I am talking about. He needs to take a chill pill and stop making mountains out of molehills.
I don’t know man, if I had a kid, I wouldn’t trust this man for a second. I never did have anything good to say about the school’s modus operandi and certainly, I never will now.It will be interesting to see how the school tries to redeem itself. It’s sad that the situation had to escalate to these proportions before we got this long overdue massive exposé of the harsh realities faced by SVN students. I’ll tell you one thing- the environment is far from comfortable, there’s no sense of community, or belonging there.
this whole incident is sad to hear and as past student of that school it is even shocking to hear. i give my sympathy to the parents of the Alex , his teachers, his friends , and colleges.the discipline and rules of that school are too strict, every student has the right to fall in love and it is not a crime to do so. the principal is too self conscious about his REPUTATION and as i observed he puts the views of the teacher and student relationship aside because he thinks that it will affect his school’s reputation. he certainly got his result for his humiliating action towards a student and he should think twice before expelling someone.
expelling someone from an institution especially a student will have certain consequences toward that student. there are better ways of telling a student how to leave an institution if he/she is right or wrong. i admit that what the student and teacher was involved in was moderately wrong but to embarrass a student in the office or in audience is very terrible, think about the physiological effect that embarked onto Alex which maybe drove him to commit suicide. at least he should have allowed the boy to go to school until he meet with the parents of both the teacher and student and the views of the teacher and student before making a standard decision.
incidences like these are downhearted to hear especially when and individual is laying the bed for his future and CSEC examinations are just nearby.
The principal should be lenient towards his students if he wants his school to progress and lighten his rules and regulations a bit to give his students comfortably.
Wow, regardless how much time it takes for one to fall in love, days, weeks, months, years. Lets not make that an issue now. People lets get one thing straight, this is about an adult abusing his privilege, so call power, against a minor. There should be no justification. For the parents who is supporting this moron, let it be your child, I am positive your comments would have been otherwise. This person is not a teacher, he wants control , not just for his learning aspect, but also one mental state of mind. If he was such a good person, he would have had a much more nurturing respectful manner to deal with this matter. A teacher is suppose to be positive, and respectful. However, in this situation, we can clearly see that this is none of the above. This so call teacher is Psychopath, and parents, again you are your children voice. Treat children hostile, you will have angry criminals. Treat your children with respect, and you will have outstanding citizens. Its 2014, not 14 century.
swami and his teacher lik to abuse the children in this skool and they dont know how to talk to the students ,he only know how to shout at students and trow his bagawat gita on students and slap them up for no reason , swami is playing a dictator , i was a student of that skool so i know
swami dont knw hw to deal wit teenagers?!? he shud tink that they r teenager and can not put pressure on dem bcaz now-a-days teens will do anyting to dem self.. and “swami” is gulity of dis matter and is he and his teachers fault… and he hav sum immature teachers.. she best hid be4 she get stone down at stewratville..fat stink shit she is?!?
swami dont knw hw to deal wit teenagers?!? he shud tink that they r teenager and can not put pressure on dem bcaz now-a-days teens will do anyting to dem self.. and “swami” is gulity of dis matter and is he and his teenagers fault… and he hav sum immature teachers.. she best hid be4 he get stone down at stewratville..fat stink shit she is?!?
Rite guys dat concern parent lyk he/she can write a book fo swami. Somebody should pull off he skirt. LOL……an d spanish teacher too. She worst dan swami
the only mistake the swami made was to hire a MISS~FIT for a teacher. everything has time and place.
willie ..is pnc fault…there..u asked for it voodoo dr lil willie..if wasnt for pnc guyanese wont need guru..ya get it now?? hmmm
hahaha real good one and can be fact too
swami want u bugga he.he a want shame ppl an then some guys mussy laughtin he an he mussy decied to go bed an sleeep but swami want dead tooo
I don’t agree with those that are bashing Swami. Always remember a story have more than one sides. The full truth of story should be fully known before making judgement. As adults we would know that a relationship does not start over nite, it takes days, weeks, months even years to develop. That being said, in my experience I am saying that the parents of Alex should have known about his relationship with a teacher and if they do not know, then it left to wonder. Alex I assumed should have been preparing for CSEC exams, hence he should not have been involved in such a deep relationship. I am saying that the parents should have been more vigilant in the life of their children. I can remember the Assistant Chief Education Officer saying and I quote ” The children that do well are not the ones we expect, but rather the ones we inspect.” We have to check on our children lives. We should go to the school to find out how are our children doing and if there are any problems with them. My child attends the school and I can tell you that on the very first day of this term Swami was literally begging parents to come in from time to time and check on their children. He said he cannot do it alone to mould and guide the children and that he needs the help of everyone, children and parents included. This school is still one of the better schools in this country and I would not take my child out of the school because of this incident. It is unfortunate and I sympathize with the family and friends of Alex, but everyone involved should take responsibility. Sometimes we as adults are very irresponsible and when things happen we look to blame others except ourselves. We should be responsible and constructive in our comments and not just criticise for the sake of it. I remember the Minister of Education only recently with the incident with the St. Roses students, that they need support. Which one of us haven’t made a mistake in life? “Let the man who never sin cast the first stone” Swami is more than a Principal of a school, he is second parent for our children. We should know the man before we become judge, jury and executioner. His school have one of the highest standard of discipline in this country. He is trying his best to guide our children properly.
In a Canadian school the parents would have been invited before all this. Why parent was not aware.
How is he a Fraud now…such idiotic response…base u comments on facts n if u do plse share…u pple love to judge…my nephew goes there and i am very impressed with the quality of service and discipline….Juan u should know better than pass judgement
William from what i understand the Swami does a good job….i think many times the the parents blame everyone else except themselves ….parents have their part to play and is unfair for judgement be passed on the Swami based on this little article
the parents must share some of the blame in this matter. they do not seem to be communicating well with their son: the boy had reportedly told his parents that he was sent home by the principal but did not say why; we don’t know if alex was upset with anything or what; the boy’s mother monica sirichand’ and his grandmother,could not say with certainty whether the planned meeting with the swami was intended to discuss his friendship with the teacher. swami may not have found the perfect answer to this rather difficult problem but at least he tried to involve both parents in a discussion about the matter but the mother did not show up. obviously this youth was accustomed to having his own way;at the hospital he told his mother that he did not want to go back to the school. so, what must the swami do? see nothing ? hear nothing? do nothing? then he would have been severely criticized of condoning slackness in his school.
Mr Kevin, firstly, the Roses student situation is completely different from this one, the young man Alex is know to me, the only issues are with Mr Swameji, there are ways to speak to student, in this day and age if you dont deal with them properly there will be many more case as this one. Look at the statistic for suicide in Guyana and ask yourself, is Mr Swami taking that into consideration when dealing with students. I agree that his methods would have work with other student but you also need to know that all human are not the same psychologically.
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There are other ways of dealing with such matters rather than expelling someone from a place where they have to set their foundation and come on we are all human beings, there are certain incidents of crushes and hots for someone are bound to happen, all that makes up life unless there is something else rather than an affair with his teacher and if the swami is guilty then I am ashamed of his behavior to this situation.
Dis is really sad …. BT as a teenager I went true …wen ur embarrassed & confuse , the only u thing abt, is suicide , cause lyk u don’t have d mind 2 face ppl anymore …. BT I think it have better ways in which swami should deal with dis matter …
Yea I was once in love with my teacher and I still have lots of feelings for him..Was my first love.
tis strange that you did not say it was the opposition caused it!!
i guess he must want these lil boys to f**k he make he behaving so.i went to an islamic school n the teachers or head teacher never treat us so.we were not allowed n if you were caught they use to speak to you very kindly.n show us education first.guess he behaving so also cause he never could have gotten a girl or boy wen he was their age.he a complete loser n nut case.he should be charged.hope alex hunts his ass
This story is very much disturbing so are the comments loving ur kids and let them have their own way is what got the roses kids to make that video the youths these days are weak Cuz one man tries to pull u in the right direction and u can’t make it doesn’t mean u have to kill ur self many kids have been discipline and expelled by swamiji but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care for them he cares that’s why he did that he wants them to go down the right path his methods are different they might be tough but it does work lots of students came out of that school as a better person I think people should find out more about this story before they talk I don’t think a person would commit suicide bcuz they were embarrassed by a teacher either the girl pregnant or he has bigger issues
Something is definitely wrong with the parents of those children who attend this school. Can’t you see that the man is a heartless fraud? DO YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDREN? Get them as far away as possible from that FRAUD!!
As parents, why would one allow these idiots to verbally, and mentally abuse their children. People, listen to your children for crying out loud….These so call people call them self teachers , they are miserable frustrated morons that prey upon the weak. Religion is good to some extent, but not to be brainwash, and most of all respect is the key word. Falling in love, regardless of what age, its beautiful, this child was experiencing life wonderful feeling. Shame on this scum that have no respect foe this young man feelings.
swami want two slap in he backside..he sounds like a military dictator.