– parent disheartened by school’s initial response to report
Minister of Education Priya Manickchand yesterday said that the ministry has launched an investigation into allegations that two students of St Joseph High School were sexually assaulted in the school’s toilet.
Manickchand told Stabroek News last evening that ministry officials have met both the alleged victims and perpetrators and that comprehensive resolutions were arrived at. She declined to comment further but Stabroek News understands that the alleged perpetrators, five fifth formers and one fourth former, will face the consequences for their actions.
Stabroek News also contacted the school’s headmistress who said the matter was being investigated by the ministry.
Meanwhile, the mother of one of the alleged victims confirmed to this newspaper last evening that she had a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Education yesterday and needed time to process the information.
However, on Sunday the same parent had taken to Facebook live to angrily address the issue of her child being assaulted and not initially getting the support of the school’s or ministry’s officials. Speaking, while hiding her identity, the parent explained that last Thursday she received a call from a teacher who related that an incident had occurred at the school. According to the mother, the teacher said the children were being “disgusting” and referred to the incident as a “little touching thing”.
When her child returned home from school, the mother said, she anxiously asked questions and learned that a teacher had sent him to the washroom to fix his shirt and he had encountered older boys there who pushed him into a stall, locked the door and demanded that he remove his pants. He fought them off and as they were also targeting another student in the washroom, managed to escape. As he left, homosexual slurs were hurled at him.
“He said he run to the teacher and complain. He said when he told her about the incident, she laughed and said… ‘I mean I know it’s serious but it’s so funny to think that they would do something like that,’” the parent said in the Facebook live.
The parent said that at a meeting at the school the next day, which she attended with her attorney, her son and siblings, a teacher suggested that the boys were merely “joking.” This prompted an angry response from the mother, who insisted that such behaviour should never be a joke. She further stated that the word joke could not be used in a matter of this nature.
The mother said she was reliably informed that the incident was a common practice at the school.
She alleged that some teachers displayed no remorse and seemed more concerned about maintaining relationships with donors, many of whom were parents of the older boys involved, than addressing her son’s violation.
The older boys who were involved in the incident also attended the meeting and, according to the mother, they were laughing as the discussion was ongoing. She admitted to assaulting one of them.
“When I come out of the meeting, my son say mommy look one of the boys, he is the one that pull down the zipper and said, ‘you want see how gay I could get’. When I look at him, he is all smiles as if this thing is a joke. So I went to him and I chuck him,” she said in the video.
She added that she then attempted to file a police report but was redirected to the Childcare and Protection Agency for further action. The mother said a teacher suggested that the mother of the older boy should also report her for pushing her son, but asserted that no one should dictate her reaction in such a grave situation.
The parent related that a female welfare officer conducted interviews with all students involved but added that laughter persisted among the older boys during this process. The male superior who later entered the room, asked whether the victim was being truthful about what transpired, then suggested that he should remain at home for one week to facilitate the investigation.
“I have been offended. I am not the offender. My child has been offended,” she said in the video. “It is not a joke. My child was not safe at the school. They breach my trust and they breach my son’s trust. They sexually assaulted my son, so because he wasn’t penetrated, you’re telling me it’s a joke?”
The mother said she is fearful of victimisation of her child and as a result will seek to have him transferred to another school. She also said that she was offered counselling sessions for her child, but refused as she was fearful that her son would be interrogated. She added that the events have taken an emotional toll on her; she reported struggling to sleep and experiencing physical, mental and emotional distress.
“They have disrupted my whole lifestyle because I have to leave my job to go defend my son. I am more hurt than my child. I will fight the system for him. I am not getting to sleep; my sister has to be up with me early in the morning because I can’t sleep. Every minute the children asking, ‘why you’re crying’,” she related in the video.
