Encouraging example set by Jamaica’s Minister of Education in support of banning corporal punishment

An open Letter to the Minister of Education from Concerned Citizens and Guyanese Educators of the “Old School”

Dear Minister,

We welcome and support the publicly stated position of the new Minister of Education in Jamaica, the Hon. Andrew Holness, that the widespread violence in the society is to be blamed, in part, on the corporal punishment in all its forms as administered to children by teachers and parents under the guise of discipline.

It is refreshing to hear a Minister from our Caribbean region address this issue in a clear, informed and intelligent manner. His counterpart in Guyana (and other territories of the Region) would do well to take heart from his statement and begin to demonstrate leadership in pushing forward policies and legal reforms to correct this backward and medieval practice.