Education Ministry to host series of intervention to help curb violence in schools

Jun 15, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – The Education Ministry is set to embark on a series of intervention as a method of curbing the incidents of violence among secondary school students.
In separate incidents last week, the police were called in because teachers and students of the Campbellville Secondary School in Georgetown were traumatised after a fight between students broke out and later a ‘gang-related’ incident disrupted the entire school.

A screen capture of a fight between two secondary school students.

In another incident, the police were called into the Lodge Secondary School and an air gun was found in a student’s bag.
Chief Education Officer (CEO), Dr. Marcel Hutson told Kaieteur News on Tuesday that the Ministry of Education is taking a holistic approach to the issue and rolling out an action plan which will see the security and psycho-social needs of students addressed.
“The recent issues of violence in schools have us really perturbed …but we are in a place, where we are dealing with it swiftly. We have already drafted an action plan which will see teachers, parents, our security forces, religious leaders and the wider community involved in helping to steer these young people in the right direction,” he said.
Dr. Hutson noted that while the school fights and gang-related incident were appalling enough to be a cause for concern, there are several issues that led up to the violent behaviour.
“For one, there are a lot of students who lack guidance and need counselling to address certain negative behavioural patterns. We started to engage professional counsellors to get them in the schools to conduct some sessions with those students… We have also reached out to community leaders to see where they can put in the work to help the children,” Dr. Hutson said.

Chief Education Officer, Dr. Marcel Hutson engages students of the Lodge Secondary School, following the recent incidents of violence at secondary schools.

According to the CEO, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, will this week, meet with religious leaders, such as pastors and people of influence, where she will seek to secure their commitment to go into schools and provide mentorship to students.
Following a discussion on Tuesday, Minister Manickchand disclosed to members of the media that she is speaking to some pastors to be able to go into schools and do some consistent work not just a check and talk on morals but to be almost a mentor to schools.
Manickchand asserted too that violence has always been present in schools but she reasoned that with more advanced technology available the situations are now more publicised.
As such, she said the Education Ministry will not turn a blind eye and operate like it is not happening.
“First of all, I don’t think it’s something we should pretend is non-existent. Secondly, I don’t think it’s something we should become paralysed in fear about. So, getting the police involved, getting welfare involved, there are other people who could possibly influence the young people we’re talking about,” Manickchand said.
She also pointed out that students, who are exhibiting bad behaviour often come from “broken” homes where a male figure is absent.
Manickchand expressed hope that the pastors can now step up and play the fatherly role or mentor these children.
Meanwhile, the Ministry has engaged the Guyana Police Force to conduct regular visits and searches at secondary schools.
In response to the situation, on Monday, Commander of Regional Division #2 Essequibo Coast, Shivpersaud Bacchus announced that the residents in partnership with the Police Force and policing groups in the region are tackling youth violence through programmes created to keep youths meaningfully occupied.
He said that there are 11 youth groups in the region which are part of the youth initiative programme where they get engaged in learning trades.
He then explained that depending on the seriousness of the situation at schools, the police are alerted but the welfare and the parents must be present before the police can engage because of protocol that the police must follow before acting on a school report.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News