Retired Head Teacher of Queen’s College Freidel Isaacs has been granted temporary orders by the High Court quashing her dismissal and demotion over the handling of the abuse of Neesa Gopaul, whose murder in October sparked widespread public anger.
Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang heard the case yesterday and later issued the orders calling on the Education Minister Shaik Baksh to show cause why they should not be made absolute.
The Minister’s decision to terminate Isaac’s services two days before she was due to retire and demote her from Graduate Headmistress (Senior Secondary) to Graduate Deputy Head-mistress (Grade A) has been quashed temporarily.
Isaacs filed the action through her attorney Anil Nandlall, saying she has lost pension benefits as a Graduate Headmistress (Senior Secondary School) and will now receive pension at a lower rate, as a result of the demotion.
Her services were terminated under Section 11 (i) of the President’s College Act, No. 11 of 1990 and according to her, the Minister of Education does not have the power or authority, under the Act, to terminate her services and or demote her.
Isaacs, in the Affidavit in Support of the motion, detailed interventions she made on Gopaul’s behalf. She said as far as she is aware Gopaul last attended school on June 20, 2010. On September 8th, 2009, she averred, Carol Marks, the Form 4B mistress, took Gopaul to her office and “showed me marks apparently from lashes on Neesa Gopaul’s arms and hands.” Isaacs said that after speaking with the student, she immediately summoned her mother.
After the mother didn’t visit the school, Isaacs deposed that on the 18th September, 2009 Gopaul was again reminded to convey a message to her mother to visit the school. Further, a letter was also dispatched inviting the mother to meet her. Isaacs further said that she was advised by the Form Mistress that she made several telephone calls to the mother inviting her to visit the school.
On September 22nd, Isaacs swore that Gopaul’s mother visited the school and met with her and Ms K Paul , a senior mistress “and we spoke to her about her responsibilities as a parent and we further explained to her that it appears that Neesa Gopaul was being ill-treated at home.” Isaacs said that the mother denied the allegations and it was agreed that the student would be referred and was referred to the QC counsellor.
On October 20, 2009, Isaacs said that she was informed by Marks that Gopaul had contacted Candida Williams, another teacher, on the previous day stating that she needed their assistance and that she was at her grandparents’ home.
The retired head said she was informed by the teachers that they visited the grandparents’ home and took Gopaul along with her grandfather to the Ministry of Human Services where it was reported to the officers there that Gopaul had been beaten. Isaacs said she was further informed that the staff at the ministry instructed the teachers to report the incident to the Leonora Police Station which the teachers did.
These events, Isaacs deposed, constituted her full involvement in and knowledge of the Gopaul affair. She said on October 11, 2010 she was asked to prepare a report on these matters and on the very day same was delivered to the officer. Prior to that, on October 5, 2010, Isaacs said that she received a memorandum from the Chief Education Officer advising that an investigation would be done by a team comprising Mr H Hutson, Ms C Benn and Ms Y Arthur. Isaacs said that she and her teaching staff cooperated fully with this exercise.
On October 29, 2010 she said she received a letter from the Permanent Secretary Pulandar Kandhi informing her of the results of the inquiry into to the handling of the Gopaul matter. Therein, she was notified that “…it is concluded that (in) your conduct as Headmistress of the Queen’s College you failed to take the necessary actions expected of a Senior Manager with the responsibility for children’s welfare. As such, you are guilty of dereliction of duty and that your tenure as Head of a Senior Secondary School comes to an end with immediate effect, Friday, October 29, 2010.” In the letter which formed part of her affidavit, she was also advised that under the PC Act of 1990 she was demoted to Graduate Deputy Headmistress Grade (A) with salary at the rate of $134,060 per month – three tiers down the scale.
She said that to date no charge of any kind including dereliction of duty had been brought against her and that to date she remained ignorant of the particulars of the matter of which she has been found guilty.
Isaacs said too that she has served in the public education system for the past 38 years, holding “almost every position possible as a teacher in Guyana’s education system.”
The matter comes up for hearing later this month.
The mangled body of 16-year-old Neesa was found stuffed in a suitcase in a creek at the now abandoned Emerald Tower resort on the Soesdyke/ Linden Highway. Her mother, Bibi Sharima Gopaul and her mother’s lover, Jarvis Small, have since been charged with her murder.
