-Minister Manickchand says after student, uncle assault Fort Wellington teacher

MINISTER of Education, Priya Manickhand, has strongly condemned the assault committed on Fort Wellington Secondary School teacher, Marlon Daniels, who was badly beaten by a Grade 10 student and his uncle on Monday.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Minister Manickchand said she spoke to the teacher after the incident and, upon hearing the details, she offered her personal and the ministry’s “full support.”

“There can be no reason offered that would be accepted as to why students or their relatives would beat a teacher. I expect the Guyana Police Force to act swiftly,” the minister said.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that, on Monday, Daniels was verbally attacked by the student, who hurled a homophobic slur at him.

That matter was reported to the headteacher of the Region Five school. The lad left the school and threatened to involve his uncle in the matter.

After school, Daniels was allegedly confronted by the teen’s uncle and his friends outside of the school compound.

The uncle reportedly restrained the teacher to allow the lad to beat him with a stick. They then made good their escape.

The teacher’s face was bloody following the attack.

The matter was reported to the police and investigation is said to be ongoing.

On Tuesday, teachers from the school downed tools and held a protest on the roadway in support of their injured colleague and to call for swift action to be taken. The teachers claimed that the police did not respond during the assault due to unavailability of vehicles.

“Enough is enough” and “We need justice” were some of the teachers’ chants.

Recently, Chief Education Officer (CEO), Saddam Hussain, said that the ministry will immediately expel any child whose parents are abusive to teachers in schools. This was due to a string of assaults on teachers by parents.

Hussain had said that parents who display any form of hostility towards a teacher will be banned from entering the school compound. According to him, no form of physical and verbal abuse towards teachers will be tolerated.

In the event of a disagreement between a parent and teacher, the CEO reminded the public that there are established mechanisms for redress. He stressed that abuse should never be an option.