Education Minister Shaik Baksh has announced that his Ministry is adopting a zero-tolerance approach to violence, drugs, weapons and sex in schools, pointing out that every incident is a matter of serious concern. The Minister made the disclosure on Thursday at a meeting with scores of parents at the Tutorial High School.
Baksh stressed that students over 15 who pose a threat to teachers and their fellow students will be expelled from school, and those under 15 will be counselled and their behaviour will be closely monitored, or they will be transferred to the Sophia Special School for remediation.
He noted that headteachers need to display stronger leadership skills in addressing these matters, but underscored that they have to be supported by parents, teachers, members of the community and other eligible individuals in society.
On this point, the Minister emphasised that parents have a central role to play in instilling values of discipline and proper conduct in their children, and importantly too, make sure they are regular and punctual at school.
Apart from the earlier mentioned stakeholders, Baksh said the media also have a role to play in this regard, but unfortunately some sections of the media have resorted to sensationalising the issue.
The Ministry explained that at no time he said there is no violence in school or violence in school is not on the increase, but affirmed that media reports which suggested that the problem is rampant are sensational, based on hearsay, and falls way short of thorough and professional journalism.
Unprofessional journalism
He pointed out that the Stabroek News March 30 article headlined, “Two more children injured in student violence,” stands out in this regard as it was unlike the newspaper’s unusual professional approach to reporting.
According to the article, Sayeed Baksh, of Latchmansingh Primary, (no mention was made of which school he attends), spent five days in hospital after his head was slammed into a wall several times by an older student.
But an investigation by the Schools’ Welfare Department indicated that Dasrat Mooklall, a student, was running after another student, Matthew Cameron, who collided with Sayeed.
This information was verified by Mooklall and Cameron who both say that no student slammed Sayeed’s head into any wall and the incident was an accident.
Further, no medical certificate was tendered by his parents; and according to them; there was no need for one, but this information was never reported by the Stabroek News.
Baksh told the gathering that his Ministry has recognised the indiscipline problems in school and has instituted a 10 point plan to curb if not eliminate these setbacks.
Interventions
These measures, he said, include strengthening the security systems in schools; searching of students at some schools; placement of Guidance Counsellors at selected schools; the launching of a mentoring programme that will be extended to all schools; the introduction of child friendly schools in Region Two.
This programme will be extended to all schools; the introduction of the Health and Family Life Education programme in more schools; the training of teachers to respond to crisis situation; strengthening the human resource capacity of the School’s Welfare Department; and the resuscitation and strengthening of the Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) in schools as parents have an important role to play in imparting values of discipline and proper conduct to their children.
Baksh also stressed that under the new education legislation, which is still at the Attorney General’s Chambers, provision has been made for the establishment of a Students’ Council.
The Council, to be established in September, will monitor the behaviour of students, report on the conduct and performance of teachers in the classroom, assist headteachers to devise school rules and policies and work with schools in enforcing these guidelines.
He underlined that the objective is to give students a voice on issues that affect them and said the Council will not be a leeway for gangs to operate incognito in an institutional setting, as members will have to submit to a code of conduct governing their behaviour.
These measures, Baksh acknowledged, are not perfect, and the Ministry of Education is continuously working to make them more effective and to ensure that Guyana does not sink to the level of violence that exists in schools in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.
He reported that several recommendations were put forward at the open stakeholder’s forum in March and his Ministry is in the process of putting together a strategy to promote safe, acceptable behaviours and positive values in school.
Action
He said too that the HFLE programme, which focuses on tolerance, respect and value-based skills, will be extended to the Tutorial High School; workshops will be held in selected areas to enlighten young parents on good parenting skills and the importance of educating their children; measures will be taken to strengthen the reporting of gang and violent activities in schools; and efforts will be made to censure lewd and violent songs and movies on the television.
In addition, Baksh announced that the search of students will be done randomly and schools will not be informed in advanced.
Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA) Executive Director, Beverly Braithwaite-Chan, lauded the efforts being made by the Ministry to address the problem and posited that raising a child today is no longer a straightforward task as they are exposed to a host of negative influences on the television, internet and video games.
Braithwaite-Chan, in addresss, also informed the gathering that “children are not really bad” and stressed that “they are just crying for help”.
She urged parents to connect with their children, treat them with love, care and respect, noting that if they can do these things, the children will not turn to some of the undesirable characters on television as their role models.
Parent Teachers’ Association (PTA) Coordinator, Carol Benn, encouraged the parents to closely monitor their children’s behaviour in and out of school as well as their performance in the classroom.
Principal Education Officer (Georgetown), Marcel Hudson, also spoke at the meeting.