THE teachers who were involved in the flogging of two female students from the Awarewanau Primary School and a school in Deep South Rupununi, Region 9 (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) have been dismissed following intense court proceedings led by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC).
The teachers were charged by the commission after they were caught brutally flogging two female students through a video that was circulated on social media, in February.
Chairperson of the Teaching Service Commission, Leila Ramson, confirmed on Tuesday that the teachers were dismissed on two charges – breach of the teaching service rules that govern the administration of corporal punishment and possible criminal matter.
A video clip was first posted on Facebook in February when two female students were seen being stripped and whipped-while being restrained-as their classmates looked on. The girls appeared to be around 13 and 15 years old and were beaten with a “cow skin belt”. And as a result, they were hospitalised.
“The way the punishment was administered was indeed a case of corporal punishment and it was brutal,” said Ramson.
The Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA), ChildLink and Help & Shelter among other non-governmental organisations, expressed their worry and called for an investigation into the matter.
Ramson said the Teaching Service Commission visited the region to deal with the matter and the teachers were sent on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation led by the TSC. And as a result of the findings, both the teachers were taken to court and they were dismissed.
Ramson charged that teachers should not proceed along this line and must work according to the ministry’s guidelines or they will be dismissed. She said too, that a child must be disciplined only by a Head Teacher, with less-extreme punishment meted out.
By Shivanie Sugrim