A West Demerara teacher has been arrested following allegations that he had sexual relations with a male pupil.
A senior police source told Stabroek News that the male teacher apparently sexually molested a nine-year-old boy. The teacher, the source said, was arrested on Tuesday after investigations.
The file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice, the source explained, and the teacher is expected to be charged tomorrow. The teacher, according to the source, took the child to his home and forced him to engage in certain activities.
PNCR Parliamentarian Mervyn Williams raised the incident during his presentation at the budget debate yesterday. He said he has been given the assurance by both ministers of Human Services & Social Security and Education, Priya Manickchand and Shaik Baksh, respectively, that they would look into the matter. According to Williams, the child was hospitalised following the abuse.
Williams said he was upset that the teacher has been allowed to remain in the education system when he (Williams) had raised a matter about him several years ago. He added that while he was a councillor on the Region Three Regional Democratic Council (RDC), he made a complaint about the teacher to the then Chairman of the RDC and an investigation was promised. Williams said he was later told that the administration attempted to investigate but no one provided answers and as a result the investigation was aborted. “But you can’t go to people and tell them what you want to hear and go as the Chairman; you have to do things differently to get the answers.” Williams said.
Now a few years later, Williams said, the teacher had allegedly taken his abuse to another level and a child is now hospitalised because of it. He said what is ironic is that the RDC Chairman who was asked to investigate is now the headmaster of the said school where the incident occurred.
Williams said it “pains” him that the teacher was allowed to remain in the system when red flags were raised about his conduct more than five years ago.
This is the second case of teacher-on-student sexual assault to hit the press this week. On Monday, police from the New Amsterdam and Fort Wellington stations swooped down on a West Berbice school to arrest a teacher accused of sexually molesting female students. Police were tipped off after a cellular phone was found containing videos of the teacher involved in sexual activities with students.
