THERE is no other way to describe the recent act of violence against a teacher of the St. Agnes Primary school than as utterly unacceptable.

I read that a Grade One teacher at this school was assaulted by a child’s parents, who had been in a fight with another pupil the day before. The assault on the teacher allegedly stemmed from a disagreement for the payment of medical expenses at a private hospital for the injured student. That disagreement escalated into a full-blown altercation and the teacher was beaten and stripped almost naked.

For five days a week, and six hours each day, children are left in schools in the care of their teachers. Schools are institutions of teaching and learning, not just academic studies, but also of critical values and skills;teachers have the critical task of moulding the young and impressionable minds.

This past Monday, the teacher and the perpetrators were taken to court. The two parents, a relative who was present during the altercation, and the teacher, were all charged with assault and breach of the peace.

While this happened, scores of teachers were outside the Magistrates Court protesting, since they felt it was unfair that the teacher was also being charged. Simultaneously, hundreds of teachers across Guyana went to work that day dressed in black and white, standing in solidarity with that teacher. I felt proud to see photographs of so many teachers donning their black and white outfits in support of the assault against one of their own. I felt even more pride seeing it from my alma mater as well.

This show of camaraderie and support was not lost on me, or many others. It showed that in times of need the people who are working every day to equip children for the future, would not let their teaching spaces, these supposed places of safety and knowledge transfer, descend into an altercation site. The message was clear: an incident like this must not happen again.

But more than just wearing black and white for the day, this incident calls into question the level of security provided in schools. It boggles my mind how a parent could assault a teacher, in the headteacher’s office, to the point where she was left almost naked– without first being restrained and taken away by the security guards on duty.

President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Mark Lyte during an interview with a local news outlet, stressed that “adequate” security should be provided in schools. He also explained that the security services are contracted, but the officers employed are most times inadequate, with many of the persons only there awaiting a payday, but not providing the services required.

As such, he mentioned that the GTU was considering whether teachers should now be arming themselves to protect against such perpetrators. This recent event follows another similar altercation in November, when a teacher was assaulted by a parent at the Winfer Gardens primary school. I understand that teachers need to ensure their safety, but arming themselves does worry me.

Another problem this raises for me is the effect of that incident on the children of the school. Naturally, I can imagine that some children (and their parents) may become traumatised, and would attend school with some degree of hesitancy. It is for this reason that it becomes even more imperative for schools to have better security.

Violence against one teacher is disrespectful to all teachers in Guyana. For me, at the very minimum, this means that the perpetrator has no respect for the role of that individual in teaching their child. And worse yet, it means that there is scant regard for the critical role teachers play in developing the human capital- the nation’s future. This is utterly unacceptable.