Female student thrashes teacher with cane at Wisburg Secondary

Jun 02, 2014 News

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– staff in fear of violent, drunk students   

“This violence in schools really getting out of hand and I don’t know what those in authority are doing about the situation. Maybe they are waiting for a child to kill a teacher or something. And the most frightening thing is that teachers are afraid to talk for fear of being victimized!”
Those words were echoed by several concerned residents of Linden, after news spread about the beating of a female teacher, by a female student at the Wisburg Secondary School, at Wisroc, Linden two Fridays ago.

Drunk and out of control
Kaieteur News understands that a female student gave a female teacher a sound thrashing with a cane, after the hapless staffer tried to intervene in a commotion involving the student’s twin brother, who was allegedly drunk and totally out of control, at the Wisburg Secondary school, two Friday’s ago.
Reports indicate that the male student had earlier been imbibing alcoholic beverages with his friends in celebration of his birthday.
A commotion then ensued, in which the male student began ‘firing wild kicks’ and cursing the Deputy Head Teacher and other teachers, after they refused to allow the boy’s sister to give him a bag, which he claimed contained his ‘juker’.
“All the time he firing kicks and a kick connected to Sir Curtis and he threatening Sir that he will kill him,” an eyewitness said.
“Then he tell he sister who was looking on and cursing, ‘pass me bag let me get me juker’, and the sister was going to give it to him, and all the while she was cursing that teachers had no right to drag her brother on the ground, but all the teachers were trying to do was take the boy to the Principal’s Office, but he de fighting too much they couldn’t control him. This boy was behaving like he was possessed.
“Well Teacher Roxanne- she is one of those teachers that don’t put up with nonsense—so she told the boy’s sister to go back to her class, but this girl ignored her and continued cursing and was going to force her way past the teacher to give her brother the bag, when teacher Roxanne scrambled the whip from the Deputy and gave her two lashes and told her to go to her class.
But instead, this girl scramble the whip and start beating the teacher, lashing this woman all over she head. Then the teacher managed to pull the whip from her and tried to restrain her, but the girl scramble back the whip, and continued lashing the teacher. By this time the brother rushed towards the teacher too, who then tried to get the rake from the cleaner to defend herself, but by then the other teachers intervened and subdued the two students who were then taken to the Principals Office,” the source added.
The incident was reported to the Wisroc Police Outpost, and the teachers involved in the fracas were advised to submit a report to the Region 10 Education Department.

Not the first time
The incident was just the latest in a string of other episodes of violence against staff at Wisburg Secondary. On February 4, 2013, Michelle Richards, another teacher, had to be rushed to the Mackenzie Hospital Complex, after a table top, which was set as a trap over her classroom door, fell on her head as she attempted to enter her class.
Richards later had a CT-scan done which revealed that she had suffered a fractured skull.
The students who had set the trap were later expelled from the School, while Richards would spend months convalescing. She has since returned to teaching, but at another Secondary School.

Alcohol in school
The imbibing of alcoholic beverages by students in the streets is nothing new in Linden; children drink blatantly, especially during the sports season, at the closing of school and during Town Week and Mashramani celebrations.
At one point the situation was getting so out of hand that the school’s PTA and the Education Department over the past few years, had to get the police involved to get the students off the streets.
The new phenomenon, however, seems to be the drinking of alcohol on the school premises.
And reports indicate that this is not just happening at the Wisburg School.
But interestingly, teachers and even Education officials are reluctant to divulge any information that seeks to highlight these troubling issues in the schools.
A senior official at the Region Ten Education Department told Kaieteur News that officials were not allowed to speak with the media.
Some who spoke on condition of anonymity blamed poor management for the indiscipline at Wisburg Secondary.
“Until something could be done about this, the level of ill discipline at this school would not go down.”
Teachers have become so disillusioned that some have opted to leave.
“This is really a sad state of affairs, when you consider the amount of money that was spent to build this school,” one resident said.
According to a police source, no action can be taken in school related issues, unless the Ministry requests police intervention.
“Only in serious cases involving serious injury or violence can we intervene. Otherwise they have to deal with it at the level of the Ministry.”
But the question on everybody’s lips these days, is what is the Ministry doing- not only as it relates to violence at Wisburg Secondary,  but at other schools across Region Ten and Guyana as a whole.
(Enid Joaquin)

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