| QUEESTOWN, NEW AMSTERDAM – ‘We want Miss Jeanne back!’ and ‘We must learn. No Miss Jeanne – No school!’ were written on some of the placards carried by students of the Berbice High School yesterday.Students block the school gate with their bicyclesThe voices of the students filled the air when their parents closed the school to protest the failure of Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh, to reinstate Jeanne Jeffrey,Wholesale Jerseys, the teacher at the centre of the protest.She teaches Social Studies, Home Management, English ‘A’ and Reading. She instructs three of the second forms, all of the third forms, one of the fourth forms and one of the fifth forms. She is the only reading teacher for the third form level and she designed their programme.Miss Jeanne Jeffrey became the centre of attention after she was sent on leave two Fridays ago for flogging a class of third form students.She had handed out an assignment on January 29 to this third form with a deadline for it to be completed by February 5th. Only a few of the children completed the assignment by the deadline.The teacher decided to administer three lashes to 28 of the 31 children in the class.Subsequently someone called in on a local television programme and highlighted the incident.At the protest yesterday, many of the students who were flogged carried placards or chanted: ‘Miss Jeanne apologised to us and we need her back’ and ‘We want Miss Jeanne back! 4give and 4get! Life must go on!’Some time before 07:00 hours yesterday,Adam Jones Orioles Jersey, protestors placed a chain and padlock on the gate of the school and bicycles were subsequently used to seal the entrance, barring teachers and students from entering the compound.Police ranks on the scene forcefully opened the gate at 09:55 hours even as some students held tightly on to it. One rank got rough and physically assaulted two of the students.A senior officer on the scene then advised the students that they must be accompanied by a parent or teacher to make an official report to the Central Police Station.The teachers were finally allowed to enter after 10:00 hours, but the students stood their ground, stating, “We ain’t going in!”Officials from the Department of Education arrived on the scene soon after. Education Officer Bashir Khan declined to comment on the issue,Cheap NFL Jerseys, and referred the Kaieteur News Berbice Reporter to the other Education Officer Bibi Ali who said, “Find out from the parents what is happening. I am not going to make a comment.”The parent/teacher body and some parents and guardians later decided that they would await a decision from the Teaching Service Commission to determine whether the protest action would continue on Wednesday.The demonstration comes in the wake of a decision by the Minister of Education Shaik Baksh not to have the female teacher return from enforced leave. The Minister is of the view that only Teaching Service Commission can rule on that issue, and not the Chief Education Officer.The decision to shut down the school was made on Thursday during a parent-teacher meeting. At that forum a number of issues were discussed. Among them was the Jeanne Jeffrey incident.Also attending Thursday’s forum were the Regional Representative of the Guyana Teachers’ Union, Colin Bynoe, and President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union, Colwyn King.All of the parents and guardians who attended Thursday’s meeting, except two, agreed to yesterday’s protest action. They decided to dress in white tops and blue bottoms, representing the colours of the school.On Thursday the teachers had already commenced a work-to-rule,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, and some of the children staged a demonstration during school hours.Mr. Colin Bynoe, at the meeting on Thursday, said that the action taken by the Minister of Education was uncalled for. “These are the students who are taking the third form work for granted.”According to Mr. Bynoe, the students who were flogged were subsequently asked by officials of the Department of Education to produce medical certificates and to give statements,cheap nfl jerseys china, “since the teacher violated the children’s rights. Nobody is saying the persons who put the children in a room violated the children’s rights…They were placed in a room and told what to say and what to do.”The students were even given a telephone number to contact officials at the Department of Education to report any misconduct of teachers.The union had conducted an inquiry in the presence of the Regional Education Officer and other officials last week. Mr. Bynoe highlighted some common things found in all of the statements collected from the children.“All the children knew they were beaten with a bamboo, all the children knew the bamboo was 30 inches long, all the children knew the bamboo was half-an-inch in diameter,NFL Jerseys Outlet From China, and all the children said their buttocks were swollen… A student said, ‘The buttocks was so burst up my mother put hot water on the blisters then apply polar ice.” Mr. Bynoe said.He further added, “You will never put polar ice on a blister because it would burn more…They were also told to go home and tell their parents to get a medical.”Only one of the students submitted a document purporting to be a medical certificate. It was written on a letterhead bearing the name of the Fort Wellington Hospital on the West Coast of Berbice and allegedly signed by a doctor.Mr. Bynoe claimed that he questioned the validity of the piece of paper and he contacted the said doctor. “…The doctor said probably he did so in a rum shop.”He acknowledged that the teacher broke the rule when she administered corporal punishment to the children, but said that she did so because she knew they have the potential to do better.“Miss Jeanne done get she degree! That teacher could have given all of them nought and collected her pay!”At the very Berbice High School, some children have taken on a new attitude since the Jeanne Jeffrey incident. On Thursday a group of second form students at the Berbice High School decided not to go to class when the bell sounded, and showed up in their own time only to find that they were locked out. The students attempted to break down the class door after they could not get in.Another incident took place at the Berbice High School last week when a known trouble-maker – a fifth form boy – assaulted a female teacher. This was because she reprimanded him for his conduct.Mr. King too endorsed the fact that the teacher’s action was aimed at bringing out the best in the students.The Regional Educational Officer, Shafiran Bhajan, came in for severe criticism at that meeting and even at Friday’s protest. She is said to be out of the country on official business and is scheduled to return on Monday, and as such could not be contacted for comment. (Melissa Johnson) |
