Written by Savitri Laikram
PARENTS of children attending the Beterverwagting (BV) Secondary School on the East Coast of Demerara are alleging that students are being plagued by the issues of bullying and drug abuse in the school.Parents who contacted the Guyana Chronicle are claiming to be “fearful for (their) children’s well-being while they are at the school.”

One parent said she is contemplating taking her first-form child out of that school and sending him back to the primary school he formerly attended. According to that parent and some students, complaints made to teachers are not being taken seriously, which allows the violence to continue.
The parents claim that the issue of school violence was raised at a recent parent/teachers association (PTA) meeting, and even though teachers are seeing the students walking with weapons (including knives), they neither reprimand nor discipline the students.

BLACK & BLUE ABDOMEN
Another parent explained that her son was absent from school for almost five days in the month since the new term started, because he had been thoroughly beaten for his money by a gang of fourth formers to whom he had refused to give the $100 they had demanded.
His mother said he detailed to her that he had been cuffed, and after he fell down, he was kicked by everyone in the group. All of his money was allegedly taken away by the group, forcing him to walk home from school three villages away.
The woman said that after her child came home, she noticed him limping and holding his abdomen, and his clothes were soiled as if he had been lying on the ground.
She called him and started to undress him, whereupon she saw the bruise marks, and a big part of his abdomen was black and blue. She said she questioned the child and he told her he had been beaten for a hundred dollars ($100), and that he had to walk home because some students had taken away all of his money.
The child told his mother that he had complained to the teacher after the incident had occurred and the teacher had promised to look into the matter.
The woman said the child complained all night about abdominal pains he was experiencing, and she was forced to take him to a private doctor for treatment.

SMOKING AT THE SCHOOL
Parents are also alleging that a person or persons unknown has/have been selling cannabis in the school, and the teachers are reportedly aware of this but have not been treating it as a matter of urgency.
Some parents believe that these students don’t always act off their own accord after they would have consumed the narcotic.
Parents are pleading with the relevant authorities to look into the matters urgently, as they say the safety of many vulnerable children is at stake.
Attempts to contact the school and the Regional Education Office for further comment on this issue proved futile.