-East La Penitence teachers end protest
Teachers at the East La Penitence Primary yesterday ended their protest after the headteacher received instructions from the Ministry of Education to write an open transfer for the children whose father stormed the school on Friday and verbally abused teachers.
The man’s child had accidentally ended up on a bus which took children for meals at a church in the area and after the child did not return home he telephoned the school, got no response and when he visited the school verbally abused two teachers and the headteacher.
Speaking with this newspaper at the school yesterday, acting Senior Mistress Coretta McDonald said good sense prevailed since the ministry though it wise to issue the transfer.
She said on Thursday afternoon the Parent-Teachers Association met and during that time the headteacher received instructions to issue an open transfer for the children.
Guyana Teachers Union President Colwyn King who was also present when this newspaper visited said the union was in support of the action taken by the ministry for the sake of the children. He insisted that a school was a sacred entity and must be respected.
“If this situation had played out in any other country, the whole system would have shut down. We are fortunate that it is just this school that was closed,” he said.
There was not a full turnout of children at the school yesterday but McDonald said she believed the situation would return to normal by Monday.
