Teachers yesterday staged a protest over the operations of gangs at the Lodge Secondary School in Georgetown, where they say they continue to be targeted despite making reports about the situation.
The teachers, who said they have also been faced with threats from some students, decided to protest to highlight the situation at the school in light of recent attacks.
Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) General Secretary Coretta McDonald, who was present at the protest, told reporters that systems have to be put in place to safeguard the teachers and students.
“This has been happening for too long and if you remembered what happen many, many years ago with a teacher of this school, I don’t think we want an occurrence of that again and so we have got to put stringent measures in place and we have to put them right now,” McDonald stressed.
According to a teacher, who wished not to be named, gang members tried to rob a teacher in a classroom on Tuesday. The teacher ran to another classroom, where other teachers were present and the gang retreated when the group exited the classroom.
This newspaper was told that there was also an attack at the school last Thursday afternoon and as a result a report was made to the police. In some cases, students are also targeted in robberies, which are often perpetrated during break and lunch periods.
Although the school has a security guard posted at the entrance, this newspaper was told that the attackers would jump the fence.
The teachers also complained about the behaviour of some of the students of the school, describing the environment as unsafe because they are violent, noting that some attend the institution with knives and other harmful implements. The teachers added that when some attacks are ongoing and they call the police, students affiliated with the gangs would alert the perpetrators, who would then flee.
According to a teacher who wished not to be named, gangs outside and inside of school are involved in carrying out the attacks.
The protest preceded a meeting between teachers and the union representatives. GTU Regional Vice President (Demerara) Collis Nicholson said remedial action would be taken from as soon as today. He told this newspaper that the GTU in collaboration with the Ministry of Education will be working to resolve the issue. He outlined some systems that they would put in place to address the situation, including erecting barbed wire around the school fence, having the Guyana Police Force patrolling the area regularly instructed by the commander and constructing a guard hut at the back of the school with the addition of three male guards, who would be doing checks daily on students entering the school compound.
