With tragic regularity, cases of outright murder following years of spousal abuse surface, and sadly, the situation seem to have become such an endemic phenomenon in the society that each instance of a life taken in violence seems to be quickly forgotten.
Several taxi drivers, many of them very young men, have been ruthlessly robbed and murdered by beasts in human form.
And who takes cognisance that the lives squandered were precious to their loved ones – children, parents, siblings, friends, et al?  Children are often the victims and the aftermath oftentimes produces delinquents – which is an evolutionary cycle of violence and problem-prone relationships.
Many times young men are accosted by members of the security services, sometimes ensuing violent confrontations, and most times it turns out that the young men in question were perpetrators of violent crimes, sometimes leading to the demise of their victims, yet their family members encourage their criminal forays because these ventures often provide the families of the perpetrators with unimaginable riches.  There are many overnight millionaires living in this society whose ill-gotten riches were obtained from someone else’s hard work, and if they have to kill their victims in the process, then so be it.
But when they are caught many persons in the society become very vocal in their defence – until they themselves become victims to these predators.
In the nation’s schools violent behaviour is escalating, and most often the decent children bear the brunt.  But the real tragedy is that this behaviour is a duplication of attitudes and actions witnessed in home environments.
The primary schools system in earlier days was administered by a governing body for primary schools, and priests and ministers of the various denominational schools were appointed to monitor the administration of the schools.
Many females in the society, including many teenage girls, have so little self-esteem that they allow themselves to be treated with great disrespect by their male counterparts, which can escalate into myriad problems, including teenage pregnancy and contraction of sexually transmitted diseases.  The minibus culture has added significantly to the degraded morality of the younger generation.
Moral degeneracy has become so entrenched in the society that persons who refuse to participate in lewd and abominable conduct and conversation are seen as abnormal and not part of the team.
Unless communities begin to address these problems holistically, with everyone, especially the educational and religious authorities, as well as village elders and other authoritative figures playing an integral role in child development and the wellbeing of members of their communities this scourge will perpetuate itself until persons and communities self-destruct.
Those who practice the standards of yesteryear are being mocked at today, but those standards were once the trademark of the Guyanese psyche.  The products of this system were decent, well-behaved law-abiding adults, who believed in the basic principles of honour, respect for their fellow humans, and compassion for the less fortunate in society.
The system  involved training in decorum, deportment, and good manners, with the requisite and necessary inputs to achieving equitable intellectual, social and physical development, which started from the home, and which was strategically supported by a strong network involving the educational system and the community.
A great cause for concern is the growing indiscipline of some students, whose behaviour is spiralling alarmingly out of control, with severe negative impact on security and the morale of teachers and the students who are genuinely trying to achieve goals within what is quickly becoming widespread lawlessness in school populations.  Adding to this is the utter disrespect for the teachers exhibited by some parents who often accost and even assault teachers for daring to take disciplinary measures against their children.  There is also a tendency for adults to assault children with whom their own children have had disagreements.
Irrespective of any consideration, no adult has a right to accost and/or assault any child in or out of the school premises.  If a parent has a complaint there is a procedure in place to address such issues, which has to be adhered to at all costs, because the consequences are very detrimental to both children, and the morale and morals of the entire school population.
Educational institutions are supposed to be protected environments for both parents and teachers, so children with severe disciplinary problems should be sent to obtain their education under paramilitary conditions, which may serve to restore their sense of social responsibility.
Adding to the problem is the fact that teachers are constrained from punishing children because of widespread concerns about abuse.  Discipline has to be left completely to the parents as teachers are allowed no latitude, despite the most provoking behaviour from troublemaking students, who even walk with weapons and threaten other students over trifling incidents.
Parents, on the other hand, can withhold privileges within the home environment, but without a simultaneous programme where the school is allowed some leeway, even with monitoring from officials from the Education Department, the problems of society will continue to deteriorate into more violence and the undisciplined children of today will become the murderers of tomorrow.