One day after a teacher of the Fort Wellington Secondary School was attacked and beaten by a student and his uncle, teachers of the school walked out over the inaction of the Ministry of Education to address the issue.
The high school teacher, Marlon Daniels was attacked by a Grade 10 student and his uncle just outside of the school compound on Monday.
The student had reportedly been taken before the headteacher by the Mr. Daniels earlier in the day over an incident that occurred in the classroom.
It was later in the afternoon, while the teacher was printing test papers at a shop outside the school compound that he was accosted by the uncle of the student and the student. The teacher was beaten by both to the face and body and left bloodied.
Angered by the incident, teachets of the school joined with the President of the Guyana Teachers Union this morning in a picketing exercise outside the school, to draw attention to the incident and the fears of other teachers.
While calling out for justice, the teachers have promised to continue their picketing exercise until a criminal investigation is conducted into the matter and charges are laid. Some of them chided the Education Department in the West Berbice area for not moving swiftly to address the situation.
GTU President Mark Lyte said the issue is worrying and the Ministry of Education needs to take a serious position against the many incidents of teachers being assaulted by parents and in some cases, students themselves.
“The teachers are protesting, one, because of the action taken by the students and their guardian, and two, the lack of response on the part of the Department of Education, Region No. 5”, the GTU President said.
The latest attack on a teacher marked the third recorded incident for the year.
In January, there was one incident at the Graham’s Hall Secondary and then there was another at St. Angela’s Primary. In both of those cases, the parents were dragged before the Court on assault charges.
The GTU President said although the Education Ministry took a number of steps to increase safety within schools, the issue remains a worrying one.
“They would have transferred children from the school where their parents would have done those things as well as debar them from entering the school in the future, so that was done. The persons who assaulted the teachers were charged and put before the court, but we still are seeing furtherance of these incidents,” the GTU President said.
The GTU President also warned that should the physical attacks continue, the union will move to the next level.
“If needs be, we will take a national position. These are things that ought not to happen. Your workplace should be a safe place, a place where teachers feel safe and are able to do what they are asked to do, unfortunately, it is becoming a place of terror, a place where persons are assaulted, beaten and little or no action is taken. So I believe what we see happening at Fort Wellington can very well spread across the country, where we can have massive protests, against the actions of parents, guardians and children assaulting our hardworking and dedicated teachers,” he said.
The Education Ministry has long urged parents and guardians to speak to the Head Teacher or Teacher-in-Charge of the school should there be any issue with a teacher. The Ministry has said it has a zero tolerance policy on violence against its teachers and violence in the nation’s schools.
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