Dear Editor,
I write in response to your January 30, 2026 editorial, ‘Drastic action needed on bullying.’ I agree with the Education Minister’s ‘emphasis’ on ‘the need for a fundamental shift in mindset to effectively address bullying.’ The view of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) President that ‘incompetence’ on the part of the Minis-tries of Education and Human Services ‘allowed’ bullying to ‘foster,’ and that ‘you cannot behave as if bullying is a pet’ requires a second look.
Our children see bullying and bullies being petted and protected, moving onwards and upwards, and take notice of the normalized abuse of power – at home and abroad. A list of bullies who use fear, threats, and actual physical violence including sexualized assault to get what they want, to silence, to ensure compliance (by victims and witnesses) would be far too long. I shall just draw attention to the invasion and colonization of the Subryanville community playground by a businessman, a ‘pet,’ with power-full friends.
‘Drastic action’ and ‘fundamental mindset shift’ are now needed since there was no enforcement of the laws and multiple regulations breached. Before, and during the construction of massive two-flat structures, Subryanville residents documented and reported on the lawlessness to enable the ‘effective intervention’ the Minister recommends in connection with bullying. By now, it should be clear that the Ministry’s “digital tools’ cannot dismantle what is now a respectable institution.
What our children ‘spec’ out again and again (‘re-spec’) renders bullying behaviours (they take many forms) as behaviours to be respected, modelled, and perfected. For many young bystanders, bullying is a normal spectator sport. The male adolescent videoing the spectacle was reported as saying, “We run things, things na run we!” He was merely repeating what adults abusing power demonstrate, and don’t actually need to put into words, although many do.
The failure to create and implement a ‘structured and coordinated approach’ to bullying is not about ‘incompetence.’ All ministers, across the gender spectrum, well know that this is how their masters run things, at home and abroad. They well know that bullying is a craft to be mastered; that its fruits are powerful. As do our young people who spend their early years observing, mimicking, and learning the behaviors of adults.
Those viewing videos of misbehaving children should not be wondering, ‘How this could happen in a school?’ Where else do children learn beating and other bullying behaviours but in homes and schools? Where do children learn that an anti-bullying policy with sanctions ‘including expulsion, suspension and mandatory psychological counselling’ does not apply to big bullies? Those who bully, pet and protect bullies, cannot be expected to eradicate bullying, but if they want to do something about bullying in schools, a low-hanging fruit on the power tree, here is a strategy they may consider.
End the attacks, dis-accommodation, marginalization, and other conscious and unconscionable acts of disempowerment against those who have a sincere interest in Guyana’s present and future well-being. Resource and incentivize genuine public servants, in and out of the formal sector, currently doing what governments are elected to do. Divert a portion of the latitude and largesse extended to the contractor class to civil society organizations.
Those with integrity, with true allegiance to Guyana, and not subservient to the powerful can say to our children: Yes, we are aware that fairness and justice do not prevail, but we can do better, and we must do better. We are aware that ‘juvenile justice’ is aspirational, that much work needs to be done to make it a reality, and we can and must do this work. They can deepen young people’s understanding of why and how hurt people hurt people. They can facilitate insight into the multitude of factors shaping all behaviours and urge our children to bring into being a new generation of human beings, and create an ecosystem where justice, kindness, and moral behaviours are the norm.