The father of a fourth-form student of the Skeldon Line Path Secondary school in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) is calling for an increase in security guards after his child was beaten twice within a month during a fight at the school.
Lennos Lyken, a 48-year-old carpenter, told the News Room that his daughter was beaten by another student on Monday during which she was nearly stabbed.
“I was at home when I received a call from a little kid saying that my child in a fight and the girl [other student] have a knife,” Lyken explained.
The father said lives about 10 minutes away from the school and when he arrived at the school, the fight ended but he managed to take away the knife from the student.
In videos seen by the News Room, Lyken is observed taking the knife away while in another video, the two students are seen involved in a scuffle on the ground as the other students looked on.
Based on the videos seen by the News Room, Lyken’s daughter suffered multiple slaps and cuffs to the face and head; she and the other student ended up in a scuffle on the ground and then rolled into a drain where the fight continued.
It wasn’t until Lyken arrived that the incident was reported to the teachers at the school. He also alleged that the security guard did not intervene.
“The teachers like they don’t have time or something, the security guard was just standing there walking around, bare madness is going on,” Lyken told the News Room.
He is fearful of sending his daughter back to the school, noting that she, too, is scared.
“That child [other student] can really harm someone.”
According to Lyken, the first time his daughter was beaten was about a month ago by another female student who was also armed with a knife. Lyken said the school had promised to investigate that first incident.
“I think the school needs more security, where is this madness coming from? What is happening in the schools? When I used to go to school, we didn’t do this madness,” Lyken stated.
Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said last week that there has been an increase in violence in schools and made it clear that this will not be tolerated.
Manickchand had said that tough measures will be put in place at the Lodge Secondary School after a student was found with an air gun inside his backpack last week.
Minister Manickchand said that students who continue to engage in violent behaviour can be sent to the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) – a juvenile correctional facility on the Essequibo Coast in Region Two.
In a separate incident on Thursday last, teachers and students of the Campbellville Secondary School in Georgetown were traumatised after a ‘gang-related’ incident disrupted the entire school.
Manickchand had related that schools with such incidents will require a complete overhaul, physically and academically.
