Over the past few weeks the reports in the daily papers seem not to have shocked us sufficiently to elicit outrage and concern about our young people and senseless violence.
Going back to March 2011 it was reported that a group of students boarded a minibus in Georgetown and travelled to Region Three where they invaded a school to get even with another student. Then, on February 19, 2012 the local media reported that 17-year-old Anfernee Bowman died after receiving several stab wounds allegedly at the hands of one of his classmates following an evening lesson. Less than a month later the family of 17-year-old Shane George was plunged into sudden mourning after Shane succumbed to stab wounds allegedly inflicted by a classmate who attends the same evening lessons. In another report on May 19 it was stated that earlier in the week a gang, on behalf of one student, visited the school to exact vengeance on another student, and a 16-year-old received a chop on his head. Teachers, we learnt, were fearful for their lives as the gang had returned to the school and issued threats.
It is clear that as a nation we are faced with a serious and dangerous situation of teen violence, which requires our urgent collective effort. For too long we have placed little or no emphasis on addressing the urgent needs of our children who continue to resort to violence to vent their anger. No real effort has been made to engage in the kind of scientific investigation necessary to address the many problems faced by our youth. Somehow we seem to think that resorting to archaic means of dealing with the problems will work, or else we act as though there is a generic solution to the myriad problems and issues our youths are struggling with daily.
So, in the case of the students who left the city and invaded another school we seem to think that suspending the students involved from school is the ultimate solution to their unwarranted behaviour. It is a dangerous mistake to fail to recognize that suspension from school alone is not the answer to a deeper social problem.
Too often the need for urgent counselling is ignored and the troubled teen is left to deal with issues as he/she sees fit. Today, there should be at least one social worker attached to every high school in Guyana, or teachers should be specifically trained to offer more help to students who are experiencing serious social, emotional and psychological problems. This is what development in education means, ensuring that we have sufficiently emotionally and psychologically balanced students in the classroom, which is to the benefit of all.
It is time the Ministry of Human Services, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, and the Ministry of Education work in close and meaningful co-operation to ensure that the violence in our schools and among our teens is properly dealt with.
It is time for serious inter-agency cooperation. Where is the University of Guyana in all of this? We seem not to recognize the value of our only tertiary education institution in meeting the challenges in our society. It is time the government considered contracting the university to conduct scientific studies to deal with teen violence. Let us engage the department of Sociology and contract the services of professionals. It is time we do some real research to arrest this dangerous development. A country, especially one which has a population of fewer than 800,000, cannot afford to have its most valuable resource being depleted so senselessly. I often wonder if we lack the ability to conduct research, or is it that we like to find ‘plaster solutions’ to problems?
Many of us may offer some kind of reason for these problems; some of us are quick to blame the parents. In fact a few years ago one man wrote an extensive article in the Guyana Chronicle in which he blamed the single parent families for crimes in Guyana. Some blame the school. I say it is time to shelve the blame and get on with the business of tackling the problem; research must be undertaken.
We must not forget that we live in a society where the young will soon become the adults in charge of our affairs and so we must care who will take care of us in those later years. We therefore must be concerned now that we aid their ability to be compassionate, responsible, respectful and accountable. A teacher recently said to me that when she stood in front of a certain class and realized that twenty years from now she might go to the doctor and have to be attended to by one of the said students it made her go the extra mile to impart more than academics. I hope that we will come to the realization that we too, as members of society have a role to play; that old African proverb popularized by Hillary Clinton, “It takes a community/village to raise a child” is quite instructive on our role as members of society.
A few days ago while listening to the Yolanda Adams Morning Radio Show the commentator asked listeners to share their views as to whether they thought the Church was still a force to be reckoned with in society. One caller gave a most emphatic yes, and went on to explain how in her community the church is dominant, and from getting a resume written to assisting in job skills training, you could go to the church and get some help. I therefore ask our religious leaders to take this issue of teen violence head on. I also ask those who are active members of civil society to treat this dangerous phenomenon of teen violence as urgent.
And what about all those decent law-abiding citizens? Let us reach out to help a youth in need; being a mentor to someone will surely go a long way and positively benefit the mentor too in the long run. Let us lobby our legislatures to take action now to arrest this avoidable and unwarranted threat to our youth. I ask the Tenth Parliament of Guyana to take action to save the future of Guyana; let us stop this senseless killing.
A nation’s human resources will continue to be its most valuable resource, and it is therefore imperative that we take every action possible to protect and invest in our young people.
Yours faithfully,
Lurlene Nestor
