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It’s time we stop the beating of children in our schools

Jun 21, 2014 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
It is good that the Government has decided to table legislation which would stop the beating of children in Guyana’s schools (Stabroek News 20 June, 2014 “Corporal punishment dropped from new education bill”).
Many persons had thought that the reason Guyana is in a mess is that children were not being beaten in the schools, but this was not true – children get licks in school and at home, like the adults before them who litter, sell liquor to them, drive wildly, play loud music, don’t hold local Government elections, etc.
What is true is that many children were no doubt fighting back and refusing to accept what they perceive as injustice, unlike many of us who take licks in its different forms from authority.
Previous experiences with progressive legislation in Guyana, especially those which could invoke the wrath of God, have shown that the National Assembly found ways to dump the issues into committees etc. There is a Special Select Committee which has not reported any conclusions on the beating of children issue. We can only hope that the National Assembly does not convolute itself between the Education Bill and the workings of the committee, and that we will liberate ourselves from this bit of our violent colonial legacy.
This time around, the National Assembly has a chance to show that Guyana’s children have the same right to a life free from violence, as the adults who are permitted to beat them.
At the same time, the National Assembly should provide resources for the students, teachers and parents – to be able to counter the violence in schools which is intensifying in the same way as in the communities of the schools.  One troubled school, for example, had to suspend some of the interactions with the police because there was no space or facilities in the school for all the students to assemble for the duration of the interactions.
Vidyaratha Kissoon

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