A National School Safety and Behaviour Framework can curb violence in schools – McDonald

Jan 24, 2026 News

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…says education cannot thrive in a climate of fear

(Kaieteur News) – President of the Guyana Teacher’s Union (GTU) Coretta McDonald believes that the implementation of a National School Safety and Behaviour Framework by the Ministry of Education could help reduce the increase in violence in schools.

McDonald, in a letter to the editor, on Friday said fixing the problem is critical.

A “National School Safety and Behaviour Framework that is publicly articulated, uniformly applied, and consistently enforced [is needed]. Every school must operate under clear protocols governing fights, threats, weapons, intrusions, and assaults, with consequences that are known, fair, and predictable,” the GTU President said.

She noted too that there must be proper support for educators and teachers who are affected by violent incidents. The Member of Parliament (MP) said that they must have access to counselling, trauma support, and clear legal and administrative guidance, as no teacher should ever feel abandoned after being harmed in the line of duty.

McDonald urged that early intervention mechanisms be strengthened across Guyana, and include trained counsellors, social workers, and community-based professionals capable of addressing behavioural issues before they escalate into violence.

“Fourth, there must be parental accountability and meaningful consequences not selective discipline, not quiet transfers that merely relocate the problem, and certainly not “talk and done” responses that signal indifference,” the GTU president said.

McDonald said Guyana must have a sustained national effort to rebuild respect, for teachers, fellow peers, public property or lawful authority. She added that the effort must be reinforced at home, in communities, in schools, and, critically, through the example set by national leadership.

Pointing to the recent incident at the Carmel Secondary School where a teacher was assaulted while trying to de-escalate a fight, the GTU leader said “While the images themselves are shocking, what is far more troubling is that many citizens no longer seem surprised. That, in itself, is the clearest warning sign. As President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union and APNU’s Shadow Minister of Education, I state unequivocally: violence in and around our schools is neither “normal behaviour,” nor “youthful mischief,” nor an issue to be managed through public relations. It is a direct and escalating threat to learning, to teacher morale and retention, and to the physical and psychological safety of both educators and students.”

The GTU president clarified that the concern does not arise in isolation as the Ministry of Education had previously acknowledged other serious incidents involving students attached to the Charity Secondary School and 8th of May Secondary School in Region Two.

She also pointed to an incident at the New Campbellville Secondary that was widely reported on where a teacher had her home vandalized and was subjected to online attacks. These events, taken together, point to a deeply troubling trend, she declared.

McDonald opined that what is being witness among students are not random acts but rather “symptoms of a wider worse and worsening breakdown, a decline in discipline, personal responsibility, and respect for basic social norms.”

“When students perceive that there are no meaningful consequences for misconduct, when parents rationalise or excuse violent behaviour, and when schools are left without adequate support systems to intervene early, violence becomes predictable. Once violence becomes predictable, it becomes contagious,” the GTU President said.

Reasoning that this crisis does not begin or end at the gate of the school McDonald reasoned that, children observe on a daily basis the tone set in wider society and they absorb what is rewarded, tolerated and what rules are enforced or ignored.

“When authority appears inconsistent, selective, or reluctant to act, respect for authority erodesand our classrooms feel the consequences. Let us be clear: education cannot thrive in a climate of fear. No curriculum reform, no new infrastructure program, and no examination strategy will succeed in a culture where teachers are treated as expendable and learning is repeatedly disrupted by intimidation and disorder.

Guyana must decide what it truly values. If we value education, then educators must be protected, students must be supported through firm and fair intervention, and discipline must be anchored in justice and the rule of law. And if we value the rule of law, then our national institutions must model it consistently and transparentlyso that our children learn that rules matter everywhere, not only when they are convenient,” she added.

Meanwhile, Kaieteur News reported on Friday that three males: ages 15, 16 and 19 are in police custody following the brutal assault of a male student on Wednesday at De Willem, West Coast Demerara, an incident that has sparked public outrage after a video of the attack circulated widely on social media.

The disturbing footage shows the victim, dressed in what appears to be his school uniform, standing helplessly as he is surrounded by the three suspects. The attackers are seen taking turns threatening, insulting and intimidating the student, with one demanding that he apologise while the others looked on.

Police said in a statement that an investigation has been launched into the assault.  “Enquiries revealed that earlier that day the victim was assaulted by several male individuals who dealt him several slaps to the face and several lashes about his body with a cutlass and a rope,” police.

Minister of Education Sonia Parag visited the Zeeburg Secondary School where the victim is attending and had a stern talk with teachers and students. In a video clip posted to the ministry’s Facebook page she said that there will be zero-tolerance for gangs under her tenure. “Are you supposed to be disrespecting a teacher? Are you supposed to be disrespecting fellow students? So, we know all the right things to do, but why don’t you? Why we don’t do them? Because we are influenced, and because we can be easily influenced. Let me say something to you. There is no way under my tenure that I am going to tolerate any group of persons calling themselves a gang,” Minister Parag said.

She added that any group of persons that infiltrates a school with the intentions to create either a gang, clique or group, she will be working with every single authority against it. Noting that children cannot develop unless they are in a safe environment, she also highlighted that the teachers will not be able to do their jobs unless they too are in a safe space. “We are taking a zero-tolerance approach to any kind of violence, whether it be student against student, student against teacher, student from one school to another school, school against school, and when I say zero tolerance, we are going to be working to drastically reduce bullying, violence, that is stemming from bullying and so on. It’s a situation where I definitely want this to become something that I will work wholeheartedly on for the next five years and that is the position of the Government as well,” she added.

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• behaviour, bullying, framework, GTU, school fights, School Safety

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