High Court quashes demotion of QC Headmistress
ACTING Chief Justice Ian Chang has quashed the order by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, to demote Queen’s College (QC) Headmistress Freidel Isaacs, following an inquiry into the circumstances precedent to the murder of former student, Neesa Gopaul.
The judge acted on an application, by Isaacs, whose demotion would have made her Deputy Headmistress with a reduced pension. The applicant had applied for writs of certiorari and mandamus which Justice Chang granted after hearing arguments, last Friday, by her counsel, Mr. Anil Nandlall.

The judge made an order or rule nisi of certiorari, directed to the Minister of Education, quashing the decision contained in a letter dated October 2, signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, demoting Isaacs with immediate effect from Graduate Headmistress (Senior Secondary) to Graduate Deputy Headmistress (Grade A) acting under the President’s College Act of 1990.

The Court held that the decision was contrary to the rules of natural justice, in excess of and without  jurisdiction, ultra vires, arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, unlawful, influenced by extraneous and irrelevant considerations, null, void and of no effect.

The judge also decreed that the Minister show cause why the Court order or rule nisi of certiorari should not be made absolute.

Justice Chang further instructed that the Minister take such steps and do all things necessary to restore Isaacs to the position of Head of a Senior Secondary School, from which she lawfully retired.

In her affidavit in support of her motion, Isaacs, wife of Clerk of Parliament, Mr. Sherlock Isaacs, said she has been a teacher in the public education system for the past 38 years and taught at 11 schools throughout Guyana.

She retired last November 1 as the Headmistress of QC, ending a career in which she had held almost every post possible as a teacher in Guyana’s education system, Isaacs said.

She said, during her tenure as QC Headmistress, Neesa Gopaul was a student there.

PUBLIC NOTORIETY
Isaacs added: “It is a fact of public notoriety that Neesa Lalita Gopaul was brutally and horribly murdered sometime on or about September 30.
“As far as I am aware, Neesa Lalita Gopaul last attended school on June 30, 2010 and she was in Form Five.

“On September 8, 2009, Ms. Carol Marks (a Form Mistress) brought student Neesa Lalita  Gopaul to my office and showed me marks, apparently from lashes, on Neesa Gopaul’s arms and hands.
“After speaking with the student I immediately summoned her mother to meet with me. After the mother never visited the school, on September 18, 2009, Neesa Lalita Gopaul was, again, reminded to convey a message to her mother to visit the school. A letter was also dispatched, inviting the mother to meet with me. Additionally, I was informed by the Form Mistress and do verily believe that she made several telephone calls to the mother inviting her to visit the school in order to meet with me.

“On September 22, 2009, Neesa Lalita Gopaul’s mother, eventually, visited the school and met with myself and Ms. K. Paul, a senior mistress, and we spoke to her about her responsibilities as a parent and we further explained to her that it appeared that Neesa Gopaul was being ill-treated at home.

“She denied the said allegation and it was agreed that the student would be referred and was, in fact, referred to the Queen’s College Counsellor.

“On October 20, 2009, I was informed by Ms. Carol Marks, that Neesa Lalita Gopaul contacted Ms. Candida Williams, another teacher, on the previous day, a Sunday, alleging that she needed their assistance and that she was at her grandparents’ home,” the Isaacs affidavit said.

It also included a letter from the Permanent Secretary to her, which stated, among other things: “Please be informed that it is concluded that your conduct, as Headmistress of the Queen’s College, failed to take the necessary actions expected of a senior manager with the responsibility for children’s welfare. As such, you are guilty of dereliction of duty and that your tenure as Head of a Senior Secondary School comes to an end with immediate effect, Friday, October 29, 2010.”