Stronger approach this year to bullying, violence in schools – Education Minister

Schools across the nation reopened on Monday with the Education Ministry announcing the rolled out of a series of education reforms, including a strengthened anti-bullying and anti-violence campaign in 2026. In a video posted on the Ministry’s Facebook page, the Education Minister, Sonia Parag in an interview said that the new approach to the anti-bullying and anti-violence campaign will be of much focus this new year, as officials work earnestly to provide an environment that is safer and more supportive for the effective learning of students. “We will be tackling the anti-bullying, anti-violence campaign with a much stronger approach this year.” The Minister stated in an interview with News Room.

This initiative, which was launched in the latter part of 2025, is part of the Ministry’s strategy to prioritise the safety of students across all schools nationwide. According to Parag the Ministry will build on measures that were previously put in place and intensify its engagement in this new term. This move followed several reported incidents of bullying and fighting in schools across the country in 2024 and 2025, including cases that circulated on social media and raised public concerns of students’ safety. Two of these instances involved students of the Charity Secondary School in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and another occurred at the New Campbellville Secondary School in Georgetown. In other cases, the Ministry of Education said it received reports of repeated harassments and intimidation among students, prompting calls from parents and teachers for strong intervention measures.

Online reporting app
To complement the campaign the Ministry has introduced an online reporting app that allows students, parents and teachers to report bullying incidents confidentially. Minister Parag said the system is part of efforts to respond to cases and to monitor trends in student safety nationwide. “It’s a really important app for us and it will help us at the Ministry of education to monitor to respond to situations of bullying, because we want to reduce and at some point, eliminate bullying altogether,” said the Minister said.

Moral and civic education
She also disclosed that the Ministry will begin the implementation of the moral and civic education in schools this week. This programme which was announced by President Dr Irfaan Ali will be taught throughout the nation from the Nursery level to the secondary level, with timetables currently being finalised. She further highlighted the Guyana Digital School initiative, launched by the President in December 2025, as a key step to the modernisation of the education sector. This digital platform is currently serving students in Grades Seven to Eleven and is on its way to providing content from primary school to assist the students who will be preparing for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).

The Minister pointed out that upgrades will be continuously made to the platform based on feedback from both students and teachers. “As we go along, we are going to keep upgrading that platform. We are going to make it into something that is hugely beneficial for the country.”