A planned police confrontation between a parent and a teacher, who have accused each other of assault following a skirmish at the Winfer Gardens Primary School, was aborted yesterday.
Police, who are investigating claims by both parties, have since informed them that they will be contacted about when the confrontation will be conducted.
General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) Coretta McDonald told Stabroek News that both parties were invited to the Alberttown Police Station yesterday morning for a confrontation. McDonald said that officials from the GTU and the Ministry of Education, including the Chief Education Officer (CEO) Marcel Hutson, showed up in support of the still traumatised teacher, Yolanda Jackson.
She explained that they were reportedly denied access in the room with the teacher and parent.
As a result, McDonald said the GTU and the ministry protested against proceeding with the confrontation if someone could not be present with Jackson, given her state of mind.
McDonald said that the officer-in-charge then spoke to them and, after a delay, an agreement was reached for one individual to be present with Jackson. However, for this to happen, McDonald added, they were told that someone had to be present with the parent also. At the time, no one was available to accompany the parent. As a result, the confrontation was rescheduled.
The Ministry of Education on Wednesday launched an investigation after Jackson was allegedly attacked by a parent at the school, which is located on East Street, Georgetown.
The attack occurred around 8.30 am, just after Jackson had reported for duty.
Jackson, this newspaper was told, teaches a Grade One class at the school, where she has been employed for several months.
She was approached by the parent shortly after she arrived on the school’s premises. The parent reportedly accused her of hitting her child in school.
Jackson denied having any knowledge of the incident which the parent was enquiring about but promised to look into it. However, the parent reportedly continued to seek an answer from Jackson.
“She approached me, she didn’t come to talk it out, she came to fight… I tried to walk away but she grabbed me from behind and she started the assault,” Jackson told media on Wednesday.
Jackson, who sustained injuries about her body, was subsequently taken to a city hospital where she received several stitches to her wounds. She had called for a thorough investigation afterward.
After reports of the incident surfaced, several officials visited the school on Wednesday.
Carol Benn, Assistant Chief Education Officer with responsibility for all primary schools, and McDonald had told the media that there is zero tolerance for such behaviour.
Benn said that the Ministry received a call stating that a parent “ran into” a Grade One class and “beat up” on a teacher, injuring her. “We are very upset about this and we will not encourage that attitude. No parent should go into any school and beat up on any teacher,” she had said while noting, “we are going to act and act swiftly.”
Meanwhile, McDonald had said “We are not going to sit idly by and allow parents to continue to assault our teachers and injure them…..the fact is two wrongs can’t make a right”.
She had noted that if any parent is upset, there is a system in place to report all incidents.
“…If a parent is upset because a teacher might have, because it’s an allegation, might have flogged his/her child, there is a process, there is a way to conduct yourself, there is a way to report all incidents,” she said.
McDonald had also said that the GTU is prepared to offer anger management or any other form of counselling to the parent if the need arises.
