As a teacher found herself before a City Magistrate this morning along with the parents of a student over a classroom fight, the Guyana Teachers Union and supporters of the teachers gathered outside the Courthouse in loud protest against the assault of teachers.
In addition to the protest outside the Courthouse, teachers and their supporters all across the country wore black and white and other somber colours to today register their disapproval of the violence that has been perpetrated against teachers in the classroom.
Leading the protest outside the Magistrates’ Court this morning was General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers Union, Coretta McDonald.
She said the teacher should not have been charged for defending herself in the classroom and she wants parents and others to know that there the abuse and assault on teachers will never be accepted.
According to Ms. McDonald, “never again will another teacher be assaulted by any parent”.
She said the GTU wants the children of the parents who assaulted the teacher to be removed from the school and teachers of the school are planning their own strike action over the incident.
The teacher had called the parents to the school over the injury suffered by another student who had been kicked to the groin area by their son.
“They came with an attitude to the school and while the teacher is explaining to them what transpireed, the father blurted out that the teacher is not fit to be a teacher and she is like a market woman. With that same breath, the teacher said like you and your woman and in all fairness we are all human beings and with that, the mother of the child scrambled the teacher and here we are at the Court”, McDonald explained.
She said the Teachers Union is angry over the attacks on teachers and it will not allow such matters to rest.
The teacher who was charged for assault along with the parents who attacked her arrived at the Courthouse in tears as she was marched before a City Magistrate.
The GTU and the Ministry of Education have both indicated that the attack on teachers will not be tolerated.
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