The Ministry of Education (MoE) has expressed concern at the prevalence of unauthorized persons accessing school buildings/compounds to conduct various activities involving students and the potential compromising of their safety.
In a circular released by the ministry yesterday and addressed to education officers as well as head teachers and principals, the Chief Education Officer, Saddam Hussain, informed that numerous complaints have been received from concerned citizens, teachers, and parents, that persons and organisations are accessing school buildings/compounds and engaging minor children. And in many instances, students have been photographed and their photographs published as advertisements and promotions without the relevant permission.
The circular stressed that “with immediate effect,” any person or organisation who wishes to enter a school building/ compound to engage learners in any discussion and/or to conduct activities such as donations or the distribution of gifts, must first obtain written approval from the Central Ministry (respective Assistant Chief Education Officers) through the respective Regional Department of Education.
Recipients of the circular were reminded of the long-established protocols “which must be observed” when a guest speaker is desired to address the students. To hammer home this point, it quoted from Circular 1 of 1987; Memo by the DCEO Admin dated 14th November, 2018 which states: “In addition, where Heads may wish to invite a member of cabinet, or other government functionary, such invitation must be forwarded early enough through the normal channel to the appropriate Assistant Chief Education Officer at the Centre and approval must be given…”
Further, it was stressed that “This is necessary to ensure the safety of minors and students while maintaining a secure, conducive environment and preventing disruption to the established order and discipline within schools.”
As such, the circular warned that any head teacher who fails to observe the protocols will be recommended to the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) or School Boards Secretariat (SBS) for disciplinary action based on the Table of Charges, Offences and Penalties, Schedule 1 (Education Act, Chapter 39:01, Section 47).
To ensure proper dissemination, recipients were directed to bring the contents of this circular to the attention of all members of staff, PTA, and School Board, and that they affix their signatures and the date thereon.
While it did not specify this, the circular would also pertain to access to schools by others. Last year there was an outcry over the death of a Strathspey Primary pupil after he was struck by a gate that was closed by a student from a secondary school who should not have been in the compound. Based on reports from parents the student had apparently visited Strathspey Primary quite often and had bullied pupils there as was the case on the fateful day when Mark Harrypaul was struck in his head and subsequently died.
The editorial in yesterday’s Stabroek News had cited this incident and had criticized the Ministry of Education for not addressing it.
The editorial had said in part: “On November 27th last year, 11-year-old Mark Harrypaul succumbed to a head injury after a gate was slammed into him at the Strathspey Primary School by another boy. It was evidence of an utter breakdown in safeguarding the life of this student. It has been cast as an accident and apparently the bereaved parents have to live with that.
“Sushmita Singh, the aggrieved mother of the dead child, told this newspaper that the other boy involved in the incident was a 14-year-old student of Buxton Secondary School who would frequently go to the primary school and bully the pupils there. This she said was told to her by other parents who came forward the next day to express their concern about the incident. As far as this newspaper is aware, neither the school, nor the ministry has delved further into whether the older student had breached the security of the primary school on more than one occasion”.
