An apology has been issued to parents of female students of Santa Rosa Secondary School, North West District who were stripped and searched last month for missing money.
Investigations into the ‘strip and search’ incident have been completed and a report containing several recommendations submitted to the Ministry of Education for deliberation.
This is according to Regional Chairman, Region One Brentnol Ashley who spoke with Stabroek News on the matter on Saturday evening, one day after a meeting was convened to address the concerns of parents whose children were affected.
The meeting, he said, was organised by the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) (Barima/Waini) and was used as a means of formally apologising to the parents for what had transpired.
“Parents got a chance to raise their concerns and share their views on the matter while being enlightened on their rights as parents and those of their children. It was also made clear that the actions of the welfare officer were unjustified,” Ashley said.
According to the Regional Chairman, the investigation has since been completed and a report has since been submitted to the Ministry of Education and copies forwarded to the RDC.
Originally, the meeting was scheduled to be held on Saturday, however, Ashley said that after viewing the report, he recognised the need for the meeting to be pushed forward to address the situation.
Unfortunately, because of the short notice, some parents were unable to attend the meeting. Nevertheless, he believes that those who were able to attend, were satisfied with what came out of the meeting.
In the interim, Ashley stated that the students will be seen by the counsellors who would have been dispatched to the area by the Ministry of Education, for which he expressed his gratitude on behalf of the RDC.
And while the Welfare Officer continues to hold her position, Ashley explained that she has since been reassigned to the Central Office at Mabaruma where she will be kept under close supervision.
He further noted that he is prepared to address the issue with those parents in the Barama area who were unable to attend the meeting during his upcoming visit to that part of the Region.
Two weeks ago, Stabroek News highlighted the incident after details were relayed to a resident by a female student of the secondary school.
According to the young woman, the incident occurred on the evening of September 15 and saw 65 female students of the school who are accommodated at the dormitory being subjected to a strip and search after a report that money belonging to the Matron of the dormitory was stolen was made to the School’s Welfare Officer.
This, prompted the Welfare Officer to make a report to the police who it was alleged gave the directive to have the students stripped-searched. Following the publication of an article in Stabroek News on the incident, Acting Commissioner of Police David Ramnarine in a statement denied any involvement of the police ranks. In the statement, it was acknowledged that a report of stolen money belonging to the Matron of the dorm was made at the said police station by the School’s Welfare Officer. This, led the Subordinate Officer-in-Charge and a Constable accompanied by the Welfare Officer to visit the dormitory, where the children’s bags were searched by the Welfare Officer.
The statement said that while no money was recovered in the search, the Welfare Officer insisted that a search be conducted on each child.
However, this was met with an objection from the Subordinate Officer, who indicated that it would be improper in the circumstances for the police to sanction this, the statement added.
At this point, both ranks reportedly left the school and returned to the station, where they later learnt that the children were searched by the School Welfare Officer, the police added.
