School Sexual Abuse allegations…Concerned citizens retaliate with protest action

Nov 22, 2017 News

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Commissioner sitting on the Rights of the Child Commission and the Women and Gender Equality Commission, Ms. Nicole Cole, yesterday coined the acronym ECIP representing ‘Every Child Is Protected’.
Cole was at the time part of a protest action outside of The Bishops’ High School in wake of recently surfaced allegations of sexual abuse at that institution situated at Carmichael Street, Georgetown.
According to Cole, President David Granger has been calling for ‘Every Child In School [ECIS]’. But according to her, in order to have ECIS there must be ECIP from child sexual predator. “You must make that environment safe, child friendly and free from abuse,” Cole amplified.
Cole was among a few other placard-bearing protestors, who staged the action to voice their concerns about child abuse allegations levelled against Economics teacher, Mr. Coen Jackson. However, Jackson at a press conference yesterday disputed the allegations.
Cole, commenting on the allegations, yesterday, shared her conviction that “we have a burgeoning rape culture because adults are failing our children; because adults aren’t doing enough to protect our children; because we have a justice system that takes seven to 10 years to even get convictions and in the worst case scenario…no justice at all.”
Given the daunting state of affairs, Cole said, “We must do better in this society.” She was making reference to the fact that instead of offering counselling and psychosocial cognitive behavioural therapy to the students who were allegedly abused by the male teacher, they were instead blamed and shamed.
A purported recording of Head Mistress of The Bishop’s High, Ms Winifred Ellis, has her lambasting female students who might have been abused by the teacher. Ellis’s remarks were reportedly made at a school assembly during which she accused the girls of being ‘loose’ and “slack”.
“The right thing to do is to protect the children, not to blame and shame them. I call for her to be fired. She should not remain in the system; she is unfit and improper,” insisted Cole.
Supporting this view yesterday was Akola Thompson who added, “We are calling for her [Ms. Ellis’s] removal. We can’t have people like that in power, especially when it comes to children and the education system. We really need to do better…”
According to Thompson, who agitated for the protest action, it is her expectation that persons will continue to retaliate in their numbers until action is taken.
“I don’t want this to be just another case that we sweep under the rug and forget [about it] next week,” said a passionate Thompson.

Also voicing concern yesterday was Attorney-at-law, Ms. Josephine Whitehead. Describing the situation as “yet another instance of sexual abuse of our children, Whitehead lamented the fact that the situation, from all indications, is one that the relevant authorities have failed to take appropriate action against.
Coming from this situation, Whitehead said, is the realisation that the Sexual Offences Act is not being effectively implemented. “There needs to be a lot more sensitisation about what to do in instances like this when you have an apparent abuse of trust by a teacher of this school. It would seem from what I read that this isn’t the first school at which this man has been grooming children and abusing children sexually,” Whitehead added.
She added, “One needs to protest against these things; one needs to do what one can to ensure that every instance like this is properly investigated and appropriate action is taken.”
Don Singh, another concerned citizen, said that he decided to join the protest action yesterday after learning of the damning state of affairs on Facebook. Singh said that he believes that the Guyanese society should embrace a campaign that has been adopted in the United States whereby “if you see something, say something, do something. If we wait on officials to see, do and act, we might wait a long time.”
Among the slogans on the placards on display yesterday were: “Groom children for success not sex”, “They told me told me not to tell my parents – Victims”, “Predators should not be protected”, “They knew about this! They swept it under the rug”, “Ellis must go!!, “Two decades of teaching, countless victims”.
And then there was a little kindergarten girl, accompanied by her father, who joined the protest line holding a placard which boldly stated “Stop Hurting Children.”
The protest action is expected to continue daily until action is taken against what is being described by some factions as an appalling state of affairs.

 

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