The Ministry of Education has pledged to treat the matter of a Venezuelan student from Queenstown Secondary School, who was beaten by some of her schoolmates, as “urgent and serious”.
The incident occurred in the vicinity of the Bank of Guyana on the Avenue of the Republic. In a video that was posted on the Facebook page of a Venezuelans in Guyana group, the young girl was seen being assaulted on all sides by other schoolgirls whilst students from the same school and another school cheered on the bullies.
“Department of Educa-tion, Georgetown is aware of an apparent physical assault on a girl child from the Queenstown Secondary School. The Minister of Education has instructed that the matter be treated as urgent and serious. The public will be updated,” the notice on the ministry’s Facebook page read.
In a separate post, the mother of one of the schoolgirls who assaulted the Venezuelan was seen defending her daughter’s actions. According to the mother, Alicia Galloway, her daughter was pushed first by the Venezuelan and this resulted in her daughter’s actions.
“My daughter was one of the students involved in the fight. If you watch this video she push my daughter first. Most naturaly my child has to represent her self and my child fight back…,” the mother said.
In the video, the victim could be seen surrounded by four or five other girls who took turns hitting her whilst she tried to shield herself. The child’s mother told another news agency that her daughter was constantly being bullied and she pleaded with the Ministry of Education to do something about the matter.
In recent times there have been several cases of bullying in schools. One of the worst cases involved Strathspey Primary pupil, 11-year-old Mark Harrypaul who died on November 27th 2023. He was hit in the head by a gate in the school’s compound that was slammed shut by another boy. The other child involved in the incident was a 14-year-old student of Buxton Secon-dary School who reportedly frequently went to the primary school and bullied the pupils there. An inquest has since been ordered into the Harrypaul’s death.
On Thursday November 9th 2023, Jamal Reid, 16, of Golden Grove Secon-dary School, was struck in the head with a cricket bat by another student, in his school’s compound. He sustained a fractured skull on the right side of the parietal bone and this was accompanied by internal bleeding as a result of several damaged blood vessels. Severe blood clotting placed pressure on the brain and resulted in swelling. His assailant is expected to be charged.
Last year September, a 12-year-old student of New Campbellville Secon-dary School was brutally assaulted by her classmates. That incident had sparked outrage in the community and prompted the victim’s parents to seek intervention from the Ministry of Education to ensure justice and safety within the school. In a video that was seen by Stabroek News the girl was seen sitting at her desk in her classroom which was apparently unsupervised at the time. One of the girl’s classmates confronted her and dealt her several blows to the head while laughing.
A week prior a boy has severely beaten another boy from the same school. That child had to seek medical care and was experiencing blackouts. Both children were eventually removed from the school.
