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Education Minister declares zero tolerance on school violence

Jun 03, 2013 News

“We are not going to be tolerating any abuse of our teachers,” said Minister of Education Priya Manickchand as she addressed a gathering of media operatives at the first in a series of monthly press conferences. The forum, which was venued at the National Centre for Resource Development (NCERD), saw the Minister highlighting a number of developments within the Ministry and responding to questions.
Violence in the school system was one such question directed to the Minister who, while not divulging too many details, disclosed that addressing such issues is high on her Ministry’s agenda. However she noted that at a follow up forum efforts will be made to offer more information on the plans to combat violence. “We hope to be able to give you our whole menu of measures. It is not just going to be violence perpetuated against teachers but we are looking at a whole menu of things including what we do with parents who abuse teachers in their capacities as teachers on school premises and so on.”
According to Manickchand, the Ministry is also hoping to have in place a guideline of how to deal with students involved in violence even as moves are made to identify the various grades of abusive or delinquent behaviour exhibited by students. “So we are going to announce that to the nation in a more holistic way,” asserted the Minister as she assured that there is no way that the Ministry will be allowing the abuse of its teachers.
And there is available support for the Government to address the issue of violence in the school system.
Speaking to this publication during an exclusive interview, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) of Guyana and Suriname Representative, Dr Suleiman Braimoh, said that the body is keen on directing support to Government to address issues of violence as it relates to children and their existence.
He concurred that the incidence of violence, particularly among youths in the school system, has taken on unprecedented proportions, and there is an urgent need for this state of affairs to be addressed.
However, he cautioned that the situation of gang violence for instance in schools is certainly not one that exists in isolation. According to him it is part of a whole context of violence in general which encompasses domestic violence, violence in the streets and other types of prevailing forms of violence in the society.
UNICEF, according to him, operates with the interest of children in mind moreover, “we are carrying out assessments to really develop stronger understanding of the whole issue to be able to support the Government.”
He disclosed that UNICEF has been working with the Ministry of Education even as he noted that “it is not just an education thing; we are working with the Ministry of Human Services too.”
He explained that what has been happening in recent times “is that we are developing stronger and better understanding of the social origin or the whole social complex surrounding the origin of violence and based on that we are designing programmes to support the Government’s efforts.”

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