Education Minister Sonia Parag yesterday said investigations have been launched into incidents involving children injured at schools over the past week, as she called for closer supervision, serious attention to bullying complaints and stronger involvement by parents.
Her Facebook video address comes amid reports that a Grade Ten student of a prominent Georgetown school died by suicide and allegations that she had experienced online bullying.
Parag did not refer specifically to the student’s death or identify the schools involved in the recent incidents. She said, however, that investigations had been launched into all incidents reported to the ministry over the past week.
“All of the incidents that have been reported to us recently, as in the last week, we have launched investigations,” she said.
The minister said she immediately orders an investigation whenever a report is brought to her attention, whether through formal channels or informally, including on social media. Once a matter has been formally reported, she said, it must be investigated and brought to a conclusion.
Parag also disclosed that a draft report has been prepared from nationwide anti-bullying and anti-violence consultations. Recommendations will inform policies and standard operating procedures for schools, although she did not give an implementation date.
The renewed assurances come in the wake of years of reported bullying and serious violence involving schoolchildren, with parents repeatedly calling for stronger protection and more effective intervention.
In September 2023, Stabroek News reported that a 12-year-old girl at New Campbellville Secondary School was assaulted while sitting at her desk in an apparently unsupervised classroom. Footage circulated on social media. The newspaper also reported a separate attack involving boys at the school, after which the injured student required medical attention.
In November that year, Golden Grove Secondary student Jamal Reid, 16, sustained a fractured skull and internal bleeding after another student struck him with a cricket bat in the school compound.
That same month, 11-year-old Strathspey Primary pupil Mark Harrypaul died after being struck by a school gate reportedly slammed shut by an older boy. Stabroek News subsequently reported that an inquest had been ordered into his death.
In April 2024, footage showing a Venezuelan girl at Queenstown Secondary being beaten by schoolmates prompting the Education Ministry to promise urgent action. Her mother reported that the child had faced repeated bullying.
And in January 2025, a 14-year-old West Demerara Secondary student told Stabroek News that 17 boys had attacked him in a school washroom during a snack break. His mother said she suspected he had been experiencing bullying before the assault.
Kiskadee Watch has also reported recent school violence. On September 1, it reported a fight between two female students in Charlestown on the first day of the school term, with other students encouraging and recording the confrontation. Days later, a parent was arrested and several students suspended following violent confrontations at a secondary school in New Amsterdam. Both incidents occurred amid continuing promises to introduce standardised anti-bullying and anti-violence procedures.
Supervision
In yesterday’s address, Parag called for supervision in classrooms, during recess and lunch, and after dismissal while children remain in school compounds awaiting their parents.
“There must be supervision of these children,” she stressed.
She urged teachers to listen when students report bullying, injuries or other troubling behaviour, and to handle complaints seriously and fairly.
“No child should feel unsafe going to school. No child should be afraid to go to school, because that child will not be able to learn,” she said.
Speaking as a parent, Parag said she understood families’ concerns about their children’s safety.
“I am a parent, and I don’t want to know that if I drop off my child to school, that I have to be worried that he will be hurt,” she said.
Parag said the anti-bullying and anti-violence campaign launched in November 2025 had involved several agencies and consultations across all ten administrative regions. Thousands of recommendations and suggestions had been reviewed in preparing the draft report, she said.
The ministry would draw on those submissions to frame policies and procedures setting out what should obtain in schools and providing guidance for teachers and students. Further public consultation remained a possibility.
Parag said moral and civic education had been introduced from nursery through Grade Nine, following the development of a curriculum between September and December 2025. The curriculum, available on the ministry’s website, seeks to encourage kindness, compassion, courtesy and respect, she said.
She stressed that children’s behaviour is shaped by their surroundings, what they see and what they are taught, making parents’ involvement essential.
Parents should maintain open communication with their children, discuss kindness and appropriate conduct, and explain the need to be considerate when playing with others, she said. Rough play, she cautioned, could result in injuries.
She also urged parents to encourage children to tell them, a teacher or another person in authority if they are being bullied.
Parag called for stronger communication between parents and teachers, saying Parent-Teacher Associations should play a greater role in bringing problems forward and helping to address them.
The ministry would examine school policies, supervision and engagement with teachers, parents and PTAs, she said, adding that she would be directly involved in several of those efforts.
Addressing bullying and violence required participation beyond the education sector, she said, calling on religious and community leaders, civil society and the private sector to help create environments where children feel protected and can learn.
The minister also strongly endorsed President Irfaan Ali’s announcement on Saturday of restrictions on vaping products, expressing concern about their effects on children’s health and behaviour.
The proposed order to be signed by Finance Minister Ashni Singh, would restrict vape imports except those approved by the health minister or designated tobacco control authorities. The announced measure concerns importation, with exceptions for approved uses.
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