Health and family life education for school curriculum – Minister Baksh

Mar 30, 2010 News

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Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh, yesterday highlighted the role of parents in disciplining children. He called on them to make that responsibility a priority in an effort to effect the change of violence in schools.
The Minister was at the time addressing a wide cross section of stakeholders, among them parents, children from several schools in and around Georgetown, and government and non-government officials at a public forum on violence in schools at the Guyana International Conference Center (GICC), Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.
With regards to violence in schools, Minister Baksh said that there are several existing interventions that are being implemented in the school system to ensure that they remain safe and conducive to learning.
Comparing Guyana with sister CARICOM countries, Minister Baksh said that the issue of violence in schools is not as prevalent in the Guyana scenario as it is regionally.
However, he emphasised that “one incident of violence in the school system is of great concern” to his Ministry, which is very proactive in addressing this issue.
Minister Baksh directed the participants’ attention to a few questions, which he said were vital in understanding and effectively dealing with violence in schools. These were: what does the data reveal about violence in schools? How does it compare to Caribbean countries? Can the education system take on the role of reformer of aggressive and deviant student behaviours?
And what are the plans, strategies and programmes of the Ministry of Education to promote acceptable behaviour in schools and positive values?
A six-month analysis carried out across the country revealed that violence has been prevalent in 26 schools, particularly from the urban centers in Georgetown. There were 62 reported cases that involved 117 students who were involved in various deviant activities involving the use of instruments such as: ice picks, broken bottles and scissors.
The Minister said that the statistics represent under three percent of schools in Guyana and a student population of 0.05 percent. He disclosed that the Ministry will be strengthening its reporting system so as to have monthly reports filed in effort to target schools in which deviant behaviours exist.
He noted that in Jamaica, 80 out of 1000 schools have police presence so as to monitor violent outbreaks and urged that in order to prevent the same scenario in Guyana “we must be on our guard.”
Minister Baksh stressed the need for head teachers to be exposed to more rigorous training in health and family life, a programme which has already been implemented in many schools in the country. However, he added that at the level of the Ministry, the results are not satisfactory.
“We are redesigning the health and family life education programme to ensure that we incorporate in the curriculum of design, more about conflict management, civic responsibility, democratic participation and peace studies,” he said.
He added that this programme will become a timetabled and examinable subject with effect from the new school year.
Minister Baksh said that at present, the school welfare department is very proactive and expressed satisfaction with the work that is being carried out by the 50 school welfare officers across Guyana.
He said that apart from the introduction of a new legislation, the formation of student councils at schools have to be explored. These councils will be responsible for the: general welfare of all students, reporting of the teachers’ behaviours and classroom performance, assisting of the school administration in the disciplining of students and assisting the principal in the formulation of school rules and policies.
He said that a mandatory aspect of the legislation will entail a national code of conduct for the students as well as the teachers.
“We will proceed to have booklets for distribution in schools in the new school year, we will not await the legislation, we can proceed with these things,” the Minister said.
Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, who made a special presentation at the forum, commended the Ministry of Education for taking the bold initiative to organise the forum, which he said was very timely and which demonstrated that the Ministry fully understands and appreciate the need to garner the views of the stakeholders in order to address the issue of violence.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs supports fully this step by the Minister and his officials and we are conscious that the outcome of this forum will impact society one way or another,” Minister Rohee said.
The Home Affairs Minister said that the challenge is finding a harmonious balance between what is taught in school and what is taught at home.
Referring the National Crime Prevention Conference, which was held in 2009 by the Home Affairs Ministry, Minister Rohee said that out of 51 recommendations that were arrived at during the deliberations, 14 were related to the Ministry of Education. He added that those recommendations were acted upon.
“We believe in direct communication with people in order to find out what their concerns are as individuals as well as communities,” the Minister said.
He said that the Community Action Component (CAC) of the Citizens’ Security Programme (CSP) allows for a holistic approach in dealing with deviant behaviours. The implementation of this programme will see a strong collaboration between the two Ministries.
“It is quite obvious that these two sectors must work hand in hand in order to facilitate results of action oriented policies,” he said.
Country Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Dr. Suleiman Bramioh in his address, reaffirmed his organisation’s support to the Ministry of Education in ensuring safer schools.
The forum was held under the theme “Promoting acceptable behaviours and positive values in schools.”

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