When the educator is a sexual predator                           

Oct 18, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,

To commence by asking the question what is wrong with Guyanese males, would be tantamount to displaying unrestrained asininity that pales in the face of stark reality.  The daily newspaper headlines are replete with news of educators sexually abusing their students. Schools are expected to be safe environments for children, but the arrests of late have made many parents,  and by extension Guyanese on the whole realize that kids are not as safe as one would like them to be once they enter the school environment.  Becoming a pupil can forebode ill.  School personnel occupy a privileged position of trust with children, and when that trust is abused, the ensuing betrayal is not only extremely damaging to the child, but also has lifelong impact.  Now,  it is no longer cool to go to school, as the educator may be a sexual predator, using the school as his base of operation for victim selection with minimal detection.

Last July, a teacher attached to a school in Berbice was placed under investigation for allegedly sexually assaulting a number of school girls. Seemingly, as if the crime in itself with one schoolgirl was not evil enough, this teacher behaved as if it was a fad and some more school girls did add.

Recently a senior teacher attached to a secondary school along the East Coast Demerara corridor was arrested for allegedly sexually molesting a 14-year-old male student. Apparently, the young student attended after-school classes hosted by the teacher.  It is further alleged that, one afternoon following classes, the teacher offered to drop the child home, and instead of going directly to the child’s home, he allegedly stopped the car and made his sexual advances on the teen. It was reported that the sexual miscreant offered to pay the child a sum of cash every week and provide him with a free lunch every day, but the boy refused.

Superimposed on this growing rise in deviancy and sordidity, is a blatant call for careful screening and psychological assessment of those desiring a career in educating the future leaders of the nation. No longer can educational qualifications be the chief requirements, but instead new standard practices aimed at screening prospective employees. Such a move is urgently needed, lest the Cyril Potter College of Education be seen as the breeding and training ground for professional sexual deviants.  The Teaching Service Commission is also tasked with overseeing the process, and ensuring that the curriculum adequately reflects what needs to be taught especially from a moral and ethical perspective.

It is also apparent that the trained professional, has yet to learn about appropriateness, especially where it pertains to a surge in his sexual urge. A male teacher of a private institution on the East Bank of Demerara was caught having sexual intercourse in one of the classrooms with a 14-year-old student. For what it is worth, as this writer fails to see the underlying rationale, but the newspaper reported that the perpetrator was the son of a well-known pastor. Yes, sons of pastors do sin, and it is obvious that while the father preached, the words did not his son’s ear reach.

Let us not forget that in 2020 former private school teacher, Wazir Khan was found guilty of performing a sex act on a minor, by Magistrate Leron Daly. He was also fined $1 million GYD.  So why are we seeing a rise in the number of cases of sexual misconduct and teacher/ student relationships?  Legal and practical loopholes continue to allow sexual predators to enter the nation’s classrooms, despite the increased attention that has been given to the problem in recent years. On April 5, 2022 at the opening of the Criminal Session of the Demerara Assizes, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali-Hack revealed that of the total of 354 criminal cases at this sitting, 174 were for sexual offences. Sexual abuse of children and under-age individuals invokes anger and revulsion, and it is obvious that children are in dire need of protection. There have been numerous calls for the establishment of a sex offender registry. https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2015/03/26/a-pressing-need-a-registry-of-sex-offenders/.In 2020, The Caribbean Voice (TCV), a New York registered Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) which operates in Guyana, reported that the efforts to establish a sex offenders’ registry was stymied by lack of support.  Since 2017, The Caribbean Voice has been pushing for the agenda to become a reality, starting with a petition to heighten civil awareness about the importance of establishing the registry. Sadly, the petition achieved less than 50% of the desired 10,000 signatures needed to meet the target. The petition was an integral part of getting the public to push for the necessary mechanisms needed for the creation of the register.

Currently, sexual predators can commit their acts, serve their prison sentences and integrate back into the society for all to see, as if their deviancy was mere frivolity. In 2010, the then President Bharrat Jagdeo publicly assented to the historic ‘Sexual Offences Bill, 2009’.

The history-making event saw government officials, Members of Parliament, members of the Diplomatic community, various interest groups, school children and others witnessing the signing of the bill at the Police Officers’ Mess, Eve Leary, Georgetown and a public awareness campaign was launched.

In delivering the keynote address, President Jagdeo pointed out that the new Act would add to the “arsenal available to fight the predators in society”. What has gone wrong?  What has happened to the mentioned arsenal?  Current happenings make allusion to the arsenal almost farcical. Education Minister Priya Manickchand also alerted education officers that sexual offences at schools will not be tolerated, and all reports of sexual misconduct in the school should be reported or face condign action.  Any institution that assumes the care of children, is a natural target for adults with ill intent. The clarion is being sounded once again for parents to demand that administrators and legislators focus on making schools safe, secure and transparent places for children to learn basic academic skills and prepare for adulthood. That is the bare minimum standard. Concomitantly, within the academic circle, teachers and school staff are called upon to be detectors, inspectors and protectors, especially when the classroom is being used to groom, or the teacher uses guile to divert attention from his being a pedophile. The truth be told, the growing threat that sexual predators pose to the nation’s children and their families represent an area, where sad to say, but nevertheless plain to see, the criminal, justice system, education system, social services have failed the Guyanese people.  Predators will remain in our classrooms until Government agencies acknowledge this fact and make meaningful changes to protect children. https://guyaneseonline.net/2018/07/15/the-issue-of-rape-for-guyanas-children-is-there-an-escape-by-yvonne-sam/

Regards,

Yvonne Sam

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