PRO-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Dr. Prem Misir, has said that the recent upsurge of violence in schools is due to limited supervision of children in the home, and the lack of application of disciplinary controls in schools.

In a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Dr. Misir pointed out that it is very important to have a strong link between the home and the school. He noted that negative consequences would flow from the link between school and home being broken.

According to Dr Misir, among those negative consequences are the emergence of school violence, and decline in the performance of students at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examinations.

He opined that parents should not only visit their children’s school when problems arise, but they should also visit the schools and speak with the teachers in good times. Dr. Misir also said that the school itself must have appropriate disciplinary controls for both students and staff in terms of the code of conduct.

The recent spate of incidences of violence in schools has seen a number of students being seriously injured, while some have even lost their lives. One such incidence occurred in January when Shane Hackett, 13, a Form 2 student of the Dolphin Government Secondary, was stabbed in the back during an altercation with another boy at school.

Also, early last month, 13-year-old Neil Miggins, a first form student of Patentia Secondary School, was stabbed in the head by a fifth former after he accidentally bumped into the older student while running down the school stairs.

In a most recent incident, Joshua Hubbard, a Grade 3 pupil of St. Margaret’s Primary School, lost his life after he was pushed down the school stairs for refusing to give another boy the rose he had bought for his mother on Valentine’s Day

CHIEF Education Officer (CEO) Olato Sam had expressed concern over the recent spate of violence in schools, and noted that the Ministry of Education is actively addressing these issues by taking a proactive approach to such unfortunate occurrences.

Among the initiatives, he said, is the availability of psychosocial counselling for a number of those young people and their parents, besides increasing the number of schools’ welfare officers and guidance counsellors in the system.