…complaint filed to ministries

CULTURAL Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Social Cohesion, Ruel Johnson, on Monday filed a letter of complaint against a male teacher of the Bishops’ High School who allegedly preys on and has sexual relationships with female students of the said institution.

Along with the complaint, Johnson also dispatched a statement of formal complaint encapsulating the claims made by a former student of the teacher. The matter was first ventilated by Johnson on his Facebook page at the weekend and saw many commenting with outrage at the allegations. The teacher was a no-show at school on Monday and his Facebook account has since been de-activated.

In the missive addressed to Chief Education Officer, Marcel Hutson and copied to Nicolette Henry, Minister of Education; Khemraj Ramjattan, Vice-President and Minister of Public Security; Amna Ally, Minister of Social Protection; Volda Lawrence, Minister of Public Health; Basil Williams, Minister of Legal Affairs; and George Norton, Minister of Social Cohesion (Culture, Youth and Sport), Johnson outlined the teacher’s predatory behaviour over the years.

Johnson said he learned of the allegations a few months ago and began his investigation of the matter then. He has since spoken with a victim of the public school and said since his social media posts on the subject, several other past students of the said teacher came forward with similar reports.

“After inquiries, a former student confirmed for me that she had entered a sexual relationship with the teacher while she was in 5th form at the school. She related that he made sexually inappropriate contact with her a month before her 16th birthday, reminded her a few days before her birthday that she was approaching the age of consent and a few weeks after that, began a sexual relationship with her, inclusive of penetrative sex. This would be a pattern I would come to recognise from multiple victims who have confided in me since,” Johnson wrote.

Guyana Chronicle understands that the teacher, after realising that an investigation was underway and that complaints were made against him, reached out to at least one victim, indicating that he has admitted to what he had done; this was not true. Johnson noted too that the alleged incident took place sometime after the passage of the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) (Cap. 8:03) of 2010. Under the provisions of the SOA, Section 18 (Sexual activity with a child by abusing position of trust), any person who is in a position of trust in an educational institution (Section 19, 1(c)) and engages in penetrative sex with a child under the age of 18 (Section 18, 1) is liable under 18, 3 (a) to “on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life”.

TROUBLING
The government official said he finds it troubling that based on the evidence before him, the teacher’s predatory activities are widespread and date back to the late 1990s while the teacher taught at the Central High School, and followed his career through attachments at Christ Church Secondary School, Richard Ishmael as well as the private institutions, The Business School and The School of the Nations.

“I’ve also gotten reports of his alleged activities extending to private lessons. His victims altogether may very well be in the hundreds over the past 20 years. By my estimation, this is the worst single incident of teacher sexual abuse that I have encountered globally, on par–perpetrator to victim ratio–with the worst excesses of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal of recent history,’ said Johnson.

The Cultural Policy Advisor said what he finds overly disturbing is that during the teacher’s tenure at the Bishops’ High School, where he has worked for at least 10 years, accusations of harassment and predation by the teacher have ‘been systematically met by mockery, disapproval, and even condemnation by the school administration.’

“Some students have contacted me privately identifying key persons responsible for this systemic repulsion of complaints against the teacher. I am willing to provide such information on the basis of strict confidentiality,” Johnson said while making it clear that he has no confidence in the school’s administration to internally deal with the issue.

SCOLDS STUDENTS
Ironically, a senior teacher of the Bishops’ High School on Monday scolded the female students for tarnishing the teacher’s reputation on social media. In an audio recording heard by the Guyana Chronicle, the teacher was heard rebuking the students who were clearly afraid to speak out about their experiences.

“I was told that the 6th formers were warned about this teacher when they were coming into the school. Which one of you? Which one of you was warned; let me hear? None of you?’ she was heard asking the students who remained mum. Her apparent tirade against the female students continued: “I have had to step back and told a child to close her legs, while a male teacher was teaching…the law is on your side…but you all are slackers,” the teacher declared while telling the students “you are very loose with yourselves.”

“If you felt uncomfortable at any time in (teacher named) presence step out of the line– if he touched you… did any one of you come to report it to me and I turned a blind eye? Can you corroborate that story on FB?’ she asked while stating that the students failed to defend their teacher on Facebook.
“Not one of you defended him!” she declared.

CONDIGN ACTION
Meanwhile, Johnson said “I am adamant that this is a serious enough issue for the ministry to act condignly and comprehensively upon…’ recommending that the teacher be immediately suspended from the Bishops’ High School.

Moreover, Johnson called for the victims’ complaints to be handed over to the Child Care and Protection Agency (CC&PA), and to the Guyana Police Force for investigation under Section 18 of the Sexual Offences Act and any other relevant section of the Act that applies.

Recommendations were also made for the teacher to be located and his passport secured failing which, all ports of entry be notified so that the alleged perpetrator is barred from leaving the country and subsequently detained. Johnson also called for an inquiry into the treatment of students’ complaints made to the administration of the Bishops’ High School, specifically with regards to the teacher’s behaviour as well as any other teacher who engaged in similar activity.

“Special focus of the TORs (Terms of Reference) should be whether any individual’s actions constitute a violation of Cap 8:03, Section 20 (Obstructing prosecution), particularly sub-section 1 (a), preventing a child from “giving evidence in any other way which would be admissible for the paper committal.”

Additionally, the Cultural Policy Advisor called for the immediate establishment of a mechanism to ensure the safe and confidential testimony of victims and witnesses to the teacher’s behavior, staffed by ‘a few trusted and properly vetted social workers and legal professionals.”

“When such a mechanism is established to my satisfaction, I will consult with my informants–victims in particular–and seek their permission to share their stories. Several have already pre-consented for this to be done. A public advisory should be sent out inviting persons to testify to this mechanism, and parents of female students of the teacher through his entire tenure at Bishops’ should be advised to consult with their children about anything they may or may not know,” Johnson wrote.

Johnson believes that given the scope of allegations against the teacher, there appears to be a psychological phenomenon that is not confined to the Bishops’ High School. “As someone who was instrumental in the crafting of the TORs of the Commission of Inquiry into the state of the Education System in Guyana, and who has reviewed the preliminary report coming out of the CoI, I believe this situation has exposed a tremendous and tragic blind spot of teacher sexual predation and its systematic covering up, one the CoI did not account for. It is up to us, as a government, to take urgent steps to correct it – we owe the victims of our lapses that much.”

He also called on the Ministry of Education to establish a School Sexual Predation Investigative Committee, of which he is willing to assist with the creation of the TORs. Johnson also recommended a multi-stakeholder mechanism comprising, but not limited to, the Head of the CCPA, Ann Greene, MP Priya Manickchand, Dr. Melissa Ifill, Vidyaratha Kissoon, Anita Madray, Mosa Telford, Akola Thompson, and Ayo Dalgetty-Dean. The Teaching Service Commission and the Guyana Teachers’ Union should also be invited to take part, he noted. Chief Educator Officer, Marcel Hutson was unavailable Monday to state whether he is in receipt of the document dispatched by Johnson.