–President Ali says, bemoans ‘pandemic’ of school gangs
–suggests targeted reorientation, data-driven solutions to tackle root causes

TARGETED reorientation and data-driven strategies must be among the solutions to address the resurgence of gang-related school violence in Guyana and the wider Caribbean.
This was according to President Dr. Irfaan Ali during his address at the opening ceremony of the Guyana Prison Service Senior Officers Conference on Monday.
“We have a pandemic of gangs in the secondary schools across the region; let’s not shy away from it,” the President said, stressing: “We have to get into those schools; we have to get into those communities. We have to get into those homes.”
He noted that all security apparatus, social services and stakeholders must take an integrated approach to address the root causes of gang violence, trauma and other challenges.
“If we can bring the religious community and civil society as part of this movement and identifying all the at-risk homes in a community, the broken homes in a community, identify, if we can do all of this, we will be able to address this challenge at the root cause. We have to look at targeted reorientation; the way we deal with trauma,” the Head of State said.
He noted that a behavioural model could be developed to analyse social cliques among the prison population as well as in vulnerable communities.
“I would like to see the prison service, every prison service in our region, develop a data- driven behavioural model. I would like to see the data on the prison population in every single country, what type of music they prefer,” he said.
Last week, parents across Guyana were urged to play a more active role in guiding and monitoring their children after a meeting at the West Ruimveldt Secondary School highlighted concerns about prohibited items being brought onto the school compound and broader issues of bullying and violence.
The call came after a concerned parent who attended the meeting shared images on social media showing a table filled with items that had reportedly been taken from students over time. Among the items displayed were lighters, toy guns, knives of various types and other objects considered inappropriate for the school environment.
Only recently Education Minister Sonia Parag had declared a zero-tolerance stance on gangs and violence, following an incident involving a Zeeburg Secondary School student who was beaten by a group of boys while on his way home.
“There is no way under my tenure that I am going to tolerate any group of persons calling themselves a gang; any group of persons infiltrating a school to create what is called a gang or a clique or a group. I will work with every single authority to dismantle it. Because you cannot develop unless you are in a safe environment,” the Education Minister said during an engagement with students and teachers at that institution.