Police called in after cutlass attack at New Amsterdam school

…administration failed to report incident

Police were called in to investigate the circumstances surrounding an incident that occurred at the Vryman’s Erven Secondary School at New Amsterdam, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) where a former student carried out an attack against a current student.
The revelation was made on Thursday by Regional Chairman David Armogan, who expressed concern that even though the incident occurred about a week ago, it was not reported by the school’s administration as is required.
“About a week ago, we had an incident at Vryman’s Erven Secondary School whereby someone sent us a video which shows someone from the community running through the school with a cutlass, on the corridor of the school, apparently fighting with a student of that school. It was not reported by the school, but because we had the video, an immediate investigation was launched,” Armogan explained.
He noted too that the matter was reported to the Police. Based on information gathered so far, the person armed with the cutlass is a former student of the school. His age is not known at this time.
It is unclear what injuries, if any, were sustained by the victim. Reports are that the alleged aggressor was contacted by investigators, but he was not arrested.
While blasting the school for not following protocol in reporting the matter, the Regional Chairman said steps have been taken to beef up security at the educational institution.
“Since then, we have put systems in place to make sure that these things do not happen again. We have consulted both the Police and the guard service and we are strengthening security in that area,” Armogan assured.
According to him, males have been entering the school compound to meet with senior female students. They often times do not use the gates to enter the compound.
“That is one of the reasons why we are thinking of strengthening the administration of the school too,” he added. “We have big issues at that school, we are going to solve them.”
The Regional Chairman is of the view that once the administration at the school becomes stronger, there would be better accountability.
The Headteacher of Vryman’s Erven Secondary was once the deputy head of the New Amsterdam Secondary School. However, back in 2016, the Regional Democratic Council had recommended having either the principal or the deputy removed from the premier secondary learning facility in the Region.
In March 2018, both the head and the deputy had been removed, with the deputy being sent to Vryman’s Erven Secondary.
“We can only make recommendations at this level; at our level, we do not really transfer people or dismiss people. What we have done through the education officers is that we have recommended to have the administration strengthened which probably will entail the movement of a certain people,” the Regional Chairman pointed out.