Police, religious leaders to help “take back our schools” – Education Minister

In light of two incidents of violence in schools over the past two days, the Education Ministry will be taking a holistic approach to address the situation on a long-term basis.
The approach will see the involvement of the Guyana Police Force, including the Community Policing Group, as well as religious leaders in the respective communities.
Subject Minister Priya Manickchand has related that while students need to be educated, any unruly behaviour which affects teachers and other students will not be accepted.

“I want students particularly to understand something: while you have a right to education, other people have a right to enjoy their space without fear, and that right will trump any right you believe you have to be disruptive; and I want to say that very clearly.”
She was making reference to the incident at the Lodge Secondary School, where teachers downed tools in protest against intimidation and threats by students suspected to belong to gangs.
“We cannot have one or two or ten children hold any school to ransom, and it is not going to happen,” she added.
She said teachers, students, parents and community elders, along with the Ministries of Health, Home Affairs, Human Services and Social Security, and Local Government and Regional Development, will all be engaged to ensure the situation is changed.
“We are on (a) mission (to) take back our schools, and so you will see right now there are Police right in that school, searching bags and speaking to students, and we can already see a calming down in the school; so, there are going to be measures that are going to be implemented. All may not be conventional. all may not be welcome.”
She further encouraged parents to check on their children and have an idea of what is in their bags. “Check on them. Know who they are liming with, know who they are hanging out with, know what kind of friends they have; and we are going to put some tough measures in place.”
For the Lodge Secondary, Minister Manickchand said there will be a PTA meeting at which parents of children would be invited. If they fail to attend, the child would not be accepted back into school “before we engage with their parents”.
“That does not mean we will leave them to stray on the street; that means we will take them and go to their homes until we find each and every one of those 338 children’s homes; and get their parents to understand what’s happening in the school, what their role is, and how together we can make their children shine,” Minister Manickchand said.
She said schools with such problems need an entire overhaul.
“It didn’t happen overnight. None of this happened overnight, and so we have to look at the entire structure of that school: academically, physically, civil works, everything; and we are in the process of doing that with a few of the schools, and we will require all the help we can get,” she noted.
Meanwhile, classes were forcefully halted at the New Campbelville Secondary School after several students from Form Three were engaged in a violent attack on each other. The Police were called in, and were able to quell the situation before it escalated.