ChildLink Inc is calling on teachers to be more vigilant in observing behavioural patterns in children which may indicate abuse as it seeks to strengthen efforts to end abuse of children in Guyana.
Stacy Parris, a Child Care Counsellor and Trainer attached to ChildLink made the call even as she tackles the problem of abuse head-on in an aggressive Child Rights Alliance (CRA) campaign to sensitize and engage students of several schools in various regions in open discussions on child abuse and child rights.
According to a press statement from ChildLink, primary and secondary schools in Regions Three, Four and Five are involved in the sensitisation sessions with Parris who is a trained child care counsellor and students are engaged in discussions relating to child abuse, preventative measures and the rights and responsibilities of the child.
ChildLink said the counsellor’s work in CRA and previous projects highlight the important roles teachers can play in increasing the number of reported cases of child abuse.
The statement said ChildLinK Inc has collaborated with Family Awareness Consciousness Togetherness (FACT), Heavenly Light World Outreach Fellowship and The Orchid Foundation in the project, and are also using the expertise of Parris to counsel and sensitise students and train teachers in new approaches to address violence in schools.
The organisation reported that Parris has observed that there is a gap between students and teachers in dealing with such issues as “Children are generally of the view that they cannot be open and honest to their teachers. I would ask students (who were abused), ‘Why is it that you never told your class teacher, a particular subject teacher or even your head teacher?’ And they would often say, ‘Who can I trust?’” the child care counsellor said.

GENUINE INTEREST
She said if teachers genuinely show interest in students and are more vigilant, they can bridge that gap.
“Teachers have their curriculum to teach, registers to update, work plans and other reports to produce and that is going to take up most of their time. But if teachers really want to help their students to learn, a holistic approach is crucial. A child cannot learn effectively if their world outside of school is unbalanced. Teachers should have a genuine interest in their students and be able to get to know them better. Know a little about the child’s home situation and their community. A teacher must also be vigilant in order to observe changes in a child’s behaviour,” Parris explained.
Several behavioural changes indicate a child is a victim of abuse, and the counsellor explained that each child has her/his own mechanisms of coping as it is understandable that each is unique.
Some students can even become aggressive towards teachers as a way of attempting to regain some of the power they have lost to their abuser.
“Some children display aggression as a coping mechanism. This can be fighting, cursing or even retaliation towards teachers. This is the child’s way of regaining some of the power they lost to the abuser. Some children keep their pain inside and withdraw from social interactions. This may be their coping mechanism because the abuser is someone the child trusts so now it is difficult to trust again. Others may cry often while some may be jumpy at the slightest touch. There are abused children who find it difficult to concentrate and can regularly seem to be day dreaming. Others may either want to regularly engage in conversations about sex or experiment sexual acts on other children. Then there are those who are constantly showing signs of pain in a particular body part. The signs of abuse depend on the nature of the abuse and the personality of the child that is abused,” the counsellor explained.

UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIOUR
Parris further explained that a teacher who does not understand a child’s situation can misinterpret the behaviour change of that child, creating unnecessary conflict between teacher and student and student and other students in some cases.
“Teachers are not just teachers. They are also child care providers. They are surrogate parental figures for children. I know that teachers are not ‘Wonder Women’ or ‘Supermen’ but it is just putting in a bit more effort with the necessary support from stakeholders. Teachers can improve a child’s life or even save the life of a child,” Parris said.
ChildLink also pointed out that while child abuse experienced by children attending school is largely underreported, children who develop a greater understanding of abuse and their own rights to protection are more encouraged to report cases to facilitators.
Some 473 children from five schools in Regions Three, Four and Five have been sensitised so far and as a result, 34 – or 1 in every 13 students – indicated to a facilitator that they were victims of some form of abuse.
“While those figures are not indicative of the national situation, they are nonetheless disturbing. The cases of abuse reported to the Child Rights Alliance facilitators are physical, sexual and neglect. ChildLinK and the CRA partners follow the protocol of Guyana’s child protection system by reporting child abuse cases to the Child Care and Protection Agency (CPA),” the statement said.

SLEEPING IN CLASS
Parris highlighted one case in which a Grade Seven male student was referred to her by a teacher, who complained that the student was often unpunctual and “takes her for his eye pass” by regularly sleeping in class.
According to ChildLink, the student related to Parris that he was forced by his stepfather to make a few hundred blocks every morning.
“If he failed to make his allotted quota, he would be forced to stay home as punishment. The child was also physically and verbally abused,” Paris said.
Parris said after she shared the child’s dilemma with the teacher and it was recognised that the child’s sincere interest was in attending school, “It changed her perception of the child and the teacher now shows compassion to the student.”
The matter was resolved after a report was made to the relevant authorities and the child now has a new home, is punctual and no longer sleeps in class.