The world is becoming an increasingly violent place which is causing great worry and concern in most societies. As such,the need for finding solutions to curb this dreaded problem is becoming increasingly urgent.
What is even more worrisome, is that it seems children are also being involved in violent activities. Only recently, in a few of our schools, we have had students involved in stabbings and other violent and even ‘gang-related’ incidents. If this trend continues it will have dire societal consequences.
We already have our fair share of violence among our adult population in various forms including domestic, sexual and criminal and if our children become enmeshed in violent activities, then the stability and well-being of our future, as a society, will come under severe threat.
No society can successfully chart a progressive course of socio-economic development if it is characterised by or engulfed in violence, in whatever form it takes place.
We have seen and are aware of the tragedies, destruction and suffering that violence has caused in so many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America which has resulted in economic stagnation and lack of social progress. Fortunately, in our country, even though violence is a nagging problem, it has not reached the level of those countries. But we should not console ourselves with this. We must re-double our efforts to rid society of violence so that our socio-economic advancement could be accelerated.
In this regard, a notable and laudable development has been the introduction of  the Tell Campaign by the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, which aims at empowering children to disclose any form of violence, particularly sexual violence.
It has been reported that more than 7,000 primary school students have so far been sensitised in this programme.
This was disclosed by Project Officer of the campaign’s implementing agency, ChildLink Guyana, Ms. Kean Chase, in a recent interview with this newspaper.
According to her, two of the three phases of the campaign have been completed, with teachers and parents from 151 schools in Regions 2, 3, 4, 10 and central Georgetown being trained.
She added that in 2011, 101 parents and 141 teachers were trained, while  last year 76 parents and another 141 teachers were trained, all from Grades three and six.
Ms. Chase indicated that during the period of December 2012-January 2013, the evaluation and monitoring aspect of the campaign was done, whereby they visited the various schools to see how the campaign is being implemented and what could be done to improve the training of  teachers.
According to her, parents have indicated that the campaign has made it easier for them to impart knowledge to their children about sexual violence.
This is encouraging news and shows that the Tell campaign is impacting positively on our children who are the best agents of change.
A good example of this is in South Africa where, through the Soul Buddyz programme, children are encouraged to be ‘agents of change’ in their own environment and in all settings, including school and home. It has four interlinked elements: by building awareness of common issues and problems in communities and encouraging a positive response – and by planting the seeds of cooperative working–the Soul Buddyz clubs are building adults of the future who will contribute to society and who are a real asset to current and future generations. They have an understanding of what matters – and that they can have a role on helping to address many issues. Soul Buddyz are true agents of change and Community Champions!
Perhaps we could follow suit and use our children as agents of change to help resolve all problems and challenges facing our nation.