Dear Editor,
The level of accountability in the Ministries responsible for education and crime reduction leaves much to be desired. These Ministries should be implementing a joint plan for controlling and reducing the crimes that are occurring in the school system while also increasing the disciplinary level throughout the schools. It has become clear that the aggressive violent criminal activity in the streets and our communities has spilled over into our schools. The children are exposed to the violence that is running rampant in our society and reported daily in the news. This has made them insensitive to the consequences of violence against other members of our society.
Our communities’ level of intolerance for violent crime needs to increase and we must hold the Police and the Ministry responsible for Public Security/Safety accountable for their poor performance. The Ministry of Education is very aware that Guyana was a society where spare the rod and spoil the child was not an approach embraced in the schools. The Head Masters and Head Mistresses had wild canes available for the stern correction of poorly behaved students. The removal of such stern disciplinary options within the school system has led to the gang sodomy/rape of a young child and the gang beating of another at the Primary School level. This is utterly ridiculous and people need to be held accountable. Gangs are also selling drugs in the schools and if they are not corrected at this young age we will have gangs running in the streets creating even more chaos. We have also seen the poor behaviour of parents who lack the decorum, decency and respectful behaviour for the school structure, and its staff. If the parents cannot respect the teachers then the students will behave even worse at school. Our society is not one where the teachers should be in fear of their students and we have reached the point where the discipline of the past must be returned to our schools.
No one wants a school system that will produce future criminals that society will not be able to control. We have also seen gang stabbings in the schools and its very casual acceptance by fellow students. It is time to bring back into our schools the very high levels of discipline and order which we once had in place. Those parents that object are the same ones that are beating up the teachers in the school and our teachers should not live in fear of those who they are developing. Those who object have the option of home schooling their children. Bags and belongings of students should be randomly checked and teachers should report immediately any confrontations between students before they escalate out of control. There must be consequences for bad behaviour and if the parents will not support such disciplinary action then their children should not be allowed in the schools. The school of the street is a much harsher environment and the consequences out there are even worse. It is time to nip this in the bud.
The police also have a part to play and the training of the security guards for the schools would be a great start. Our Ministers must start to raise their level of expectations and hold themselves accountable for quickly improving public safety and the level of crime in society and the education system. The building of additional jails is not the best solution for the prevention of criminal activity, but given the current path society is on I can understand why President Granger has decided to invest in the prison system.
Those who are allowed to stray down the undesirable path of criminal activity at a young age will continue to prey on society and create an atmosphere of fear which usually leads to high levels of vigilante justice in Guyana. We must remember that Guyanese are not the kind of people to put up with this nonsense for too long and have taken justice into their own hands on many occasions. I remember when a village killed one of its members for raping and killing a child. The Ministries and Police must act now to stop the development of gang activity at the primary and secondary school levels before they end up having to deal with those same individuals in the street under even more dangerous circumstances. It only gets worse if not quickly brought under strict control in an orderly and disciplined manner.
Yours faithfully,
Jamil Changlee
Chairman
The Cooperative Republicans of
Guyana
