-past students disappointed in action

TEACHERS of the Bishops’ High School on Thursday commenced strike action following allegations posted on social media by former students that they engage in bullying and publicly embarrassing students.

The allegations, which were posted on Instagram by a former student, went viral and were substantiated by current students of the school. Several screenshots of the allegations made its way to

the teachers and an internal probe was launched by the administration of the school.
The teachers, however, were not satisfied with the actions taken by the administration and subsequently engaged the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), which advised them on the steps they needed to take to proceed on strike, General- Secretary of the GTU, Coretta McDonald, told the media on Friday.

Teachers have not turned up at the school since Thursday and exam students who showed up were sent home; all virtual classes were also suspended.
Former and current students of the school alleged that some teachers have exhibited abusive tendencies, bullied students and embarrassed them publicly; others claimed that some of the teachers are also homophobic.
A former student, Anil Persaud, who attended the Bishops High School from 2008 to 2014, stated that while he respects and loves his alma mater, he cannot deny that the allegations of mental and physical abuse are true.

He stated that the school’s administration is cognisant of this and should definitely change their stance from a defensive position and try to take note of the pattern the students are trying to highlight.
Persaud recalled having similar experiences and stated that some of the teachers at the school “abuse their power” and oftentimes break the morale of the budding minds.
Further, Persaud noted that while discipline is important in running one of the top education institutions in the country, many of the teachers blur the line between discipline and abuse.

“The extent to which it is taken is sometimes questionable, questionable to the character of the teachers and the institution at large, because the extreme measures that is [sic] taken to handle the issues is not what you’d expect from an institution like that and from teachers who have been in the institution for that long. So it borders on the lines of being really abusive; verbally abusive, emotionally abusive. The way the teachers acted, it was bullying really when you think of it,” expressed the former student.

He stated that the school has always taken a position to retaliate and punish any student, past or present, who would speak publicly on the atrocities that occurred at the institution.
“I really think that it escalated to the point of the students creating an entire social media page for lack of intervention. I don’t think there was sufficient intervention from any level: from the ministry, from the school’s board, from the parent teachers association, from none of the sub institutions within the school…just to protect the name of the school, no one ever said anything, it didn’t get out much and whenever there was an opportunity or an instance where information came out and people spoke, the admin. would shut it down,” Persaud explained.

Persaud stated that he had a personal experience with the school where he spoke out following an instance of bullying by one of his colleagues. Persaud said he received several threats from teachers of the school of legal actions that will be taken against him if he did not remove the posts. He was also told that he would be banned from visiting the school if he did not retract his statements.

Persaud further lauded the students for coming together in their fight against the injustices they have faced, since starting their journey at the Bishops’ High School.
It is not known how long the strike will last for, but the Sunday Chronicle understands that the teachers want an apology and a retraction of the social media posts.
The Ministry of Education has not pronounced on the matter; when contacted on Saturday, subject Minister Priya Manickchand said she was in a meeting and could not comment at that time.